![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Table, Chair, Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5fe1/f91c/815a/5700/0011/newsletter/feature.jpg?1612799952)
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Architects: Projekt V Arhitektura
- Area: 90 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Projekt V Arhitektura
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Manufacturers: ALUKOENIGSTAHL, Hager, Hano, JAF Frischeis, Katmar, Philips, Shinnoki, Stand-ard Furniture Factory, Velux
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5e54/f91c/81a7/3800/0007/newsletter/05-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-Backward_View.jpg?1612799547)
Text description provided by the architects. Situated in an ordinary unplanned neighbourhood in Sarajevo, the Half House is a new studio extension and refurbishment of the ground floor of a typical Bosnian ‘family house’. The Half House has been designed for a wheelchair user and his wife by Projekt V Arhitektura. The studio extension is a new typology for the area: it is in between a detached studio house, a family gathering space, and a ‘weekend’ countryside house common to the region.
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5f17/f91c/81a7/3800/0009/newsletter/06-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-East_Elevation.jpg?1612799754)
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Image 16 of 19](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5d6b/f91c/81a7/3800/0003/newsletter/02.Half_House_-_Ground_Floor_Plan_-_Proposed_-_projektvarhitektura.jpg?1612799324)
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Door](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5f5e/f91c/81a7/3800/000f/newsletter/13-Half_House-projektvarhitektura.jpg?1612799826)
The existing house and ground floor apartment was built in the1980s and has been reconfigured through decades of ‘ad-hoc’ interventions and extensions following the war in the 90s. Resulting in limited, constrained space for living, moving around in a wheelchair, and hosting a large family. The Half House responds to the disjointed, post-war character of the surrounding neighbourhood and existing family house, with a simple, elemental, minimalistic architecture that brings an order to its setting.
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5e60/f91c/815a/5700/0009/medium_jpg/04-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-From_Kitchen.jpg?1612799548)
This first completed phase includes the interior of a new side extension that can act as a semi-detached studio. Designed to accommodate a carer in the couple’s later life, it incorporates a large open-plan dining and living area; covered terrace with barbecue; a WC with walk-in shower; and an upper mezzanine. The form of the studio extension is a single pitched roof, held up by two long flank walls that create a long open-plan central space that gives a sense of generosity. Glazed pocket sliding doors extend the living area and create the feeling of a large outdoor covered space.
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Windows, Lighting](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5e21/f91c/815a/5700/0007/medium_jpg/02-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-Square_Window.jpg?1612799486)
A key architectural feature of the design is the floor-to-ceiling, built-in joinery walls that span the full length of the dining, living and outdoor areas. The walls are treated like a façade, with carved out voids to accommodate windows, passage-ways, seating, book shelving, storage cupboards, and a space for a future lift to the mezzanine. They transform in use. Opening in-built cupboards, windows and doors, changing the sofa to a bed, or lighting a fire in the stove, are everyday actions that bring the walls to life and give the space a sense of dynamism.
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Bedroom, Bed](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5e25/f91c/81a7/3800/0005/medium_jpg/03-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-Sofa_Elevation.jpg?1612799489)
The interior oak walls introduce nature into the space, drawing on the forests of Bosnia. The walls reference key timber elements of a traditional Bosnian townhouse: a ‘Musandera’, a deep line of built-in cupboards that are typically located along the length of the wall that one walks through when entering a room. The upper gallery also references the wooden veranda’s ‘Divanhana’ and ‘Kemarija’—transitional spaces between inside and outside located on the upper floors.
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography, Shelving, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5f2e/f91c/81a7/3800/000b/newsletter/08-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-Gallery_South_View.jpg?1612799774)
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Image 18 of 19](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5d7d/f91c/815a/5700/0005/newsletter/04.Section_A_-_Cross_Section_-_Publicity_-_projektvarhitektura.jpg?1612799346)
![Half House / Projekt V Arhitektura - Interior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6021/5f4f/f91c/815a/5700/000d/medium_jpg/09-Half_House-projektvarhitektura-With_Furniture-Portal_View_2.jpg?1612799800)
The mezzanine level, with in-built book shelving, is a peaceful space separated from the remainder of the house.
The second phase of the project started on site in early 2021 and includes a full interior refurbishment of the original apartment and a new facade. Projekt V Arhitektura are a young Architecture and Research studio based in Sarajevo and London.