CEAHLĂU HOUSE

This house is built in an established residential neighborhood on Cluj close to the Botanical Garden. The challenge was to provide the same living conditions, generous surfaces and 21st century fittings for two families, but avoid creating a standard detached “mirror-house”. The character of the area is with detached family houses, so we wanted to make a building with character, not anonymous but not out of the urban context.

The choice of materials (grey plaster and facing brick), the large openings, the terrace roof all aim to give the house an established, timeless look with a Neo-Modernist aesthetic. The facade is partly made of brick, with different ways of arrangement, sometimes the brick is in relief and sometimes there is a perforated brick layout.

The volumetric concept was to offer a unitary image of the two houses that coexist on the same plot, but at the same time to offer privacy from each other without the need for fences. We used volumetry and the position of the windows to obtain separation, so they don’t disturb one another. From the street it is a compact volume, but in the back terrace areas are oriented in such a way as to offer a private space to each house. Each house has good orientation for the interior spaces, each room has natural light, the ones in the middle are arranged around a small inner courtyard.

The interior is fundamentally different in each house, House A has a slightly more industrial look, with metal furniture, rigorous geometries, sharper angles, while House B is more cozy with more wood, slightly curved shapes. The owners wish was to integrate as much as possible scandinavian furniture from their shop – Norda.

PROGRAM: house for two families in a single building

STATUS: completed

SURFACE: 538 sqm

LOCATION: str. Ceahlău, Cluj

YEAR: 2016-2020

COLLABORATORS: Structure: Ultra Proiect; Installations: Perfect Comfort, Conexinstal, Constructor: Luca Prest, Klutz, Policonstrucții; Site manager: Sipos Laszlo; Windows: Geoplast; Furniture: Nordashop, Zigman.

PHOTO: Lieven Gouwy