Vila Hermína / HSH architekti

Dec 2009

Ester Havlova

Architects: HSH architekti
Location: Černín, Czech Republic
Project Team: Petr Hájek, Tomáš Hradečný, Jan Šépka
Project Year: 2000
Construction Year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Ester Havlová

The building is situated on a sloping terrain on the outskirts of Černín, taking the same slope into its internals for floors. The interior layout is based on alternating straight and sloping floor surfaces that create the overall spiralling character of the interior and define the building’s external appearance.

axo

Ester Havlova

However, the use of the sloping floor on the ground floor is not purposeless – it is there on investor´s reguest to accomodate movie projections as a small movie theatre. Windows and other openings are placed with respect of the external façade – each of the walls only has one opening. For thermal and water insulation a polyurethane spray with pink coat is used, meant as a credit to our favourite building of Versuchsanstalt fur Wasserbau und Schiffbau by Ludwig Leo.

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: © Ester Havlova

: 1st floor plan

: 2nd floor plan

: 3rd floor plan

: Section

: Location

47 comments »

J. F. says:

i dont like this house at all. who would like to live there?? with these slopes everywhere…

# December 29, 2009 at 00:11

Mitch says:

I dont mind the interior organization, it is actually quite interesting – I am more curious why they chose to finish the exteior in cake frosting

# December 29, 2009 at 00:23

Chris says:

So 1st off, why show renders of a bathroom. Second, that plastery-messy concrete material used for the interior walls is a little disturbing for a bathroom setting. Looks like a prison cell or something. Materials of this project are very poorly planned.

# December 29, 2009 at 01:10

zp says:

I think, idea is risky, but interior result is nice. maby sloping part is to big, and finishing is agressive for some of us, but it depends on family attitude… i would like to live there.

# December 29, 2009 at 01:33

Hyon Tak Yun says:

Amazing. This is real architecture. Thank you for sharing this with us Nico.

# December 29, 2009 at 01:40

nidoll says:

haha cute fun little space

# December 29, 2009 at 02:24

nonono says:

I think these people don’t really care with outside. inside looks so much nicer

# December 29, 2009 at 02:41

gjg says:

this is strange

# December 29, 2009 at 03:37

Lukasz Prazuch says:

Congratulations! I do like it very much. There will be a lot of controversy in connection to it. In my opinion you did good job including exterior finish. I like that the materials are very rough.

# December 29, 2009 at 04:30

bb says:

one of the best project-realisation i have seen during the past two years…so simple and conceptual, humoristic, alive, contemporary and pop – real supprise! GOGO SEPKA!

# December 29, 2009 at 04:37

Loreta says:

..of course- this project is simple but conceptual, I agree with you!

# December 29, 2009 at 17:11

Jeison says:

‘bb’ couldn´t have defined it better.

# December 29, 2009 at 05:16

andy says:

wow, i love it, THIS IS ARCHITECTURE, somebody told me, that owner’s children was asking, why we have so ordinary house?

# December 29, 2009 at 05:35

devoided says:

Amazing site
+
Amazing clients
+
a country with few architectural restrictions (this is impossible to build in Portugal, for example)

THIS

Congratulations, I like it.

# December 29, 2009 at 06:23

by “architectural restrictions”, I mean legislation.

# December 29, 2009 at 06:25

sullka says:

you sure?, private houses don’t really follow the same constraints as public housing.

# January 11, 2010 at 13:46

Chas says:

# December 29, 2009 at 09:21

I like the interior but I gotta agree with the “cake frosting” analagy. the exterior is horrible. if they would have put as much care into the exterior as they did the exterior then this would be a great house instead of a pink pimple on an otherwise beautiful hillside.
It looks to me like the architects got so caught up in the interior that they don’t seem to have realized that the house has gorgous views. trying to take advantage of its location would have been nice. having some exterior spaces with some trellis’s or something could have helped dress up the exterior.

# December 29, 2009 at 09:24

louis genghis kahn says:

where can i get that chairs hanging from the roof?

# December 29, 2009 at 09:47

Tom Tom says:

They are from IKEA

# December 29, 2009 at 13:37

psarq says:

In my opinion, the exterior polyurethane insulation left exposed, doesn’t produce a nice result at all. The building just looks unfinhished and doesn’t relate to anything in its surroundings… It’s a pity, because otherwise this is a rather insteresting project.

# December 29, 2009 at 10:27

oh c’mon!! this house looks more like a children playroom or a video game scenario …im not agree about that this is a great project…

I find it unconfortable and cheesy, but risky certanly.

# December 29, 2009 at 12:19

c franklin says:

Totally amateur effort. Realize it’s the holiday season — but there’s much better material out there…

# December 29, 2009 at 13:00

little tim says:

why would anyone in their right mind want to live in a space like that. is more of a death trap than a home. there are millions of better projects out there that need publishing. focus on those.

however i do give props to the owners very brave choice for such traditional setting.

# December 29, 2009 at 15:43

dev says:

owner is psychiatrist, btw :)

# January 22, 2010 at 22:47

hyon says:

I think what’s most offensive about this place is that it manages to be what it is without all the the makeup that we usually resort to when trying to make a building pretty. It is all the more commendable because this “choice” was not really a choice at all – but a necessity. It’s simplicity of form, response to site, honesty of materials, construction – it’s all there. To marginalize this work, I think, is in a way condemning ourselves to a life of catering to those who can only buy art but not conceive of it.

# December 29, 2009 at 16:18

Adrian says:

Has anyone noticed that some authors have a strange tendency towards compensating the smallness and insignifiance of their projects with a plethora of pictures and details? Like they try to convince you they’ve just made an golden egg…

# December 29, 2009 at 16:22

christopher says:

would anyone really want to live here?

# December 29, 2009 at 17:17

Fudge says:

The exterior is crude. I can see the intention. Contrast. It works well with the beautiful interior, with such an innovative, conceptual organisation of space, unfortunately the exterior is still a bit horrible.

# December 29, 2009 at 17:28

Nicholas Patten says:

I'd Live Here: Vila Hermína. http://bit.ly/81R2Qi

# December 30, 2009 at 00:01

larry king says:

treatrical nonsense for first pages of all exhibicionist architectural magazines of the world.
let there be nonsense and superficial architecture.
no more normalism and inteligence!!!
.))))))))))

# December 30, 2009 at 12:17

nikola says:

I think this is very interesting project… well, the interior part, but definitely not for couple who would like to grow old in it since it’s only for young and strong people with all of those steep slopes around the place.

and PLEASE, one thing that I would like for someone to EXPLAIN me is how to you combine open fluid space and family life? what happens when parents want a little privacy? or when children become teenagers? is really normal for whole family to live in what is practically one room?

# December 30, 2009 at 15:11

anais says:

This house is not by Sepka architekti but by HŠH architects ! http://www.hsharchitekti.cz/ …this is their last project. After they split each of them founded new team…one of them is Šépka architects…

# December 30, 2009 at 19:08

Kevin says:

Looks very unfunctional. And a lots of lost spaces on the slopes. The slopes can do great things in houses, but not in this one. They are to steep and nothing happens on it. Could be done better. And owyeah, the bathroom, are we in jail?

# December 31, 2009 at 12:41

Someone says:

I don’t think it would be wise to marginalize this house. It has something worth looking into.
Sure you can question it’s practicality – probably a get drunk and die situation to make fun of it’s downside – and it’s quirky choise of materials and colors, but it’s because of this that this house has something that a lot of buildings don’t – humor. This jagged chewing gum on a hillside will, if you have a sense of humor, make you laugh. It’s like a clown – funny and not stylish. I guess that is the point. Admittedly, a slightly cheap joke, but effective.
Of course, architecture is a serious matter and I have to say that living in this house is problematic and I don’t know how long the joke will last or on who it is actually. At the end of the day, this is not first grade architecture, not to my liking, but I think there is a lesson to learn from this house.

# January 2, 2010 at 17:48

Petr Hajek says:

Dear ladies and getlemen,
yesterday we brought in a wrong link for us project of Vila Hermina. We are sorry about that. This link is correct:
http://www.hsharchitekti.cz/index.php?lang=cs&page=project&name=vila-hermina

With regards,
Petr Hajek and Tomas Hradecny

# January 4, 2010 at 04:51

lluka says:

???was this project stolen by sepka architekti??? see hsharchitekti.cz

# January 4, 2010 at 08:19

barret says:

HSHarchitekti=Hájek>Šépka>Hradečný

Sepka Architekti
Project Team: Petr Hájek, Tomáš Hradečný, Jan Šépka

Now think…just a little.

# January 4, 2010 at 09:47

mp says:

good one!

# January 4, 2010 at 16:02

oscar falcón lara says:

Wow, interesting what they did with the slopes.

# January 4, 2010 at 23:00

- says:

a project without any complexes!
there is a dose of Czech humor but a lot of fresh thinking. I adore it.

# January 5, 2010 at 18:11

Rocco says:

A very special little house. Everybody should get one like that just to try the feel of it :). Anyways, I would keep the idea with polyurethane for a more conventional building. And as said before by someone else, the project is the last project by HSH architects http://www.hsharchitekti.cz/. Sepka was one of the partners.

# January 8, 2010 at 09:29

joe klein says:

Fabulous and it probably was built at a VERY reasonable cost

Paul Virilio would be happy to see this

# January 8, 2010 at 18:40

Povilas says:

I love the volume, but why did they have to color exterior walls in such a cheesy color.

# January 9, 2010 at 07:36

Lots of comments, which means the architecture is engaging.

I love it, for a summer cottage or something, not for a main house.

I think however than both the exterior finishes and the bathroom finishes aren’t quite there.

Congrats though, nice clients as well.

# January 11, 2010 at 13:49

Danai says:

it’s really interesting both interior and exterior in conceptual trem, but for the user it doesn’t make any senses. The exterior reminds me to the art work of rachel whiteread, the “HOUSE” project. it’s very good case study.

# May 11, 2010 at 04:37

Nikola says:

lot of comments say that for the user doesn’t make any sense, it’s not “practical” and so on… MAYBE not all of us want to live in the “perfect” house, and I think the family did saw the project before it was built and liked it.

# May 11, 2010 at 13:32