An “elevated meadow” surrounds the glazed living room of this property in a Bulgarian village, which is raised over the fields on stone-filled cages to give it the visual appeal of an observation tower .
Architects Viara Jeliazkova, Georgi Katov, Stefan Apostolov from Sofia-based firm I/O Architects made Observation Home to consider advantage of a hilltop plot in north-east Bulgaria.
The stone-filled cages, known as gabions, give the building hardy exterior. A glass pavilion-liked structure with a broad-brimmed roof rests on prime, surrounded by a grassy deck that offers 360 degree views of the agricultural land that borders the village.
“The internet site of the undertaking is distinguished the two by its panoramic views and distant visibility,” explained Jeliazkova, Katov and Apostolov, whose previous projects include a residence with a stepped verandah along a single of its sloping glazed facades.
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“In buy to strengthen them, a element of the programme is situated in the seemingly blind bastion-like volume and the living region is elevated substantial on it,” they added. “This brings view completion up to 360 degree and privacy in the entirely opened area above.”
A single perforation in the gabion walls leads into a “cave-like” entrance hall and garage in the centre of the ground floor. A glass screen at the rear of this area aligns with the wall of the living area above, producing a tower-like column of glazing.
“The pitched roof geometrically connects the upper volume with the base and adds complexity in the interior space,” said the architects, “while the oversized eaves connect it to the minor meadow close to and exaggerate the hovering result of the slim metal construction.”
“The proportion and the materiality of the solid base give it the physical appearance of an infrastructural object that define the edge of the village and conceal the ambitious program of the house.”
A master bedroom, guest suite and personnel quarters, as well as a sauna and massage space, are located close to the periphery of this central glazed space.
Bedrooms are positioned along the glazed opening in the stone base to overlook a pool in the grounds of the property.
The smooth timber, glass and polished concrete surfaces inside of contrast the rugged texture of the exterior.
Two flights of pale wooden measures connect the ground floor places with the open-prepare residing room and roof backyard over.
“The materiality of the interior spaces is dominated by local species wood cladding, which balances the roughness of the whole framework and its surroundings,” explained the architects.
Other buildings featuring gabion walls incorporate a gabled residence in Poland by Kropka Studio and a villa in the Beskid Mountains by Zdeněk Trefil.
Internet site program 
Basement floor 
Ground floor 
First floor 
Part
nice project