Single-familiy house extension

Studio Nomadic is an architecture office from Timișoara. The projects of the office are mainly focused on residential buildings and rehabilitation of historical buildings, but there are also works such as public space installations, light-art and exhibition design. Studio Nomadic consists of: Victor Popovici (b. Timișoara, 1974) Graduate from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning in Timișoara and the course of Advanced Studies in Architecture on the subject of the rehabilitation of historical sites within the same institution, on which occasion he developed his passion for local history, culture and heritage. He is a founding member of OAR, former vice-president of the Romanian Order of Architects Timiș Territorial Branch and is a member of the Registry of Urban Planners in Romania. At the same time, he is involved in cultural projects focused on preserving the identity of Timisoara. Silvia Tripșa (b. Timisoara, 1988) Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, within the Polytechnic University of Timișoara (2013), and later practiced as an architect in Romania, Austria and Chile. In 2017, he completed his master's studies in lighting at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. She is a certified designer of passive houses (Passive House Institute-PHI, 2020).

The project deals with the expansion of a single-family house built in the interwar period, located on a generous plot of land. The existing house offered a limited space to the functional needs of the family that occupies it (consisting of four people) and required an upgrade from the point of view of available spaces, interior comfort and a general rehabilitation. Also, the existing construction did not offer a physical or visual connection with the particularly attractive exterior of the courtyard. The project involved a rehabilitation of the old house (by restoring the facades, the cladding, thermal rehabilitation) and the realization of a P+1 extension towards the back of the lot. Through the extension, 3 volumes are obtained - the old, rehabilitated house and the new, modern house, connected by a higher black volume, which incorporates the vertical circulation area and the main access to the house. The open staircase unfolds around an interior garden, arranged above a massive anthracite body. This connecting body is a closed space but similar to an inner courtyard, also having zenithal light through the skylight above the planter. The swinging staircase makes the connection between the ground floor of the old house and the 1st floor of the extension. From here one goes up to an interior balcony that allows access to the attic of the old house. The 1st floor of the extension accommodates two rooms and a bathroom, accessible via a corridor (also skylighted). On the ground floor, in this area, you go down to the kitchen and dining area located a few steps below, at the same level as the garden, to which it is visually and functionally connected through several openings. In the new house, an open space has been proposed on the ground floor that houses a spacious and modern kitchen and a living area with the role of dining and reading. This place becomes the most important point of time for family and friends. The sliding door from the garden transforms the living area into a comfortable space visually connected with the outside. This indoor-outdoor gradient is achieved through the glazed living area and the covered terrace. One of the windows facing the garden is treated as a sitting and reading place defined on the inside by a wooden box and on the outside by a metal box. The balance between new and old is achieved through materiality, through chromaticism and the simple volumetrics of the extension.