Living in the Garden
Renovation of an old villa
Author: Maruša Turnšek
Mentor: Mitja Zorc
Project year: 2018/2019
FA Ljubljana
In the 19th century the wealthier class of Ljubljana started building villas close to the city. Their design was highly regulated by a front and back garden and its tidiness.
Today however these neighborhoods are losing their identity as the gardens are turning into parking lots and extensions to villas are deforming their once typical cubic volume shape.
Redesign of a typical villa preserves its typical qualities and creates a home for a family that seeks more connectedness with nature while still living close to a city. It is therefore an intertwining of the existence of man and nature. In the garden - primarily the space for plants - the cellar extends into the garden, and in the
villa - primarily the space for man - a new vertical hollow space is dedicated to plants.
The living room, where the family spends most of the day, moves through the house vertically with each season so that the family maintains as much contact with the plants as possible.
Vertical hollow space
Winter time
Spring and fall time
Summer time
In winter, the garden is dormant and the family limits their stay to the upper three floors. On the top floor with a warm living room, a view of the greenhouse opens along its entire length.
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In the warmer months, the living room space is moved from the attic to the perforated space next to the kitchen. It borders the greenhouse in the house, and increases contact with the garden through the perforated wall.
In the warmer part of the year, the family spends most of the time outside, the living room extends into the garden, and the kitchen, formerly set on the high ground floor, is now located one floor lower, in a partially enclosed space.
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The vegetation in the garden are autochthonous Slovene flowers and recreate the once colorful Slovene meadows.
