A HOUSE FOR THE QUIET PARTY ANIMALS

How to design a reasonably sized family house, that can also easily host parties for thirty-plus guests? time to build the perfect home on strictly controlled terms?

In a densely urbanized space of one of capital's satellite towns, one would never expect to find a forest with deers roaming around. Nevertheless, my clients managed to find it just the same and choose it as a perfect place to build their new family home.

A home they envisioned was to support their many interests and hobbies. Reading and writing. Cooking, carpentry, playing a simple guitar or even something so exotic as theremin. Spending the quiet family moments in intimate solitude or being able to host a party for thirty plus people. From the first moment, the design process was focused to fully adapt to the children's and parents' needs alike.

No wonder that what came out at the end was not just an ordinary home but rather the one with a capital H.

Entrance blends into the main gathering place that revolves around the big dining table. Longitudinal kitchen that complements it, stretches at the background, and ends with an organically shaped fireplace in the corner of the living space.

Master bedroom that includes a wardroom and a bathroom occupies the rest of the ground floor, together with the library and home studio, while kids' quarters are placed above.

A V-shaped green roof is reflected into the interior as a soft, wavy ceiling that distinctively marks and connects main living quarters and, through the main staircase, extends onto the first floor and further out to the balcony.

The same V-shaped roof with a supplement of the workshop's single pitched roof creates a distinctive silhouette of the house, that at the very end detaches from the gentle eastward slope and rather reaches high into the sky towards the treetops.

ARCHITECT’ DIALOGUES - Matej Gašperič Podcast

I first met Martin and his partner Lara when they chose me to design a home for their family — a house I later titled A House for the Quiet Party Animals.

Martin is a writer and researcher, the author of Fičko across Yugoslavia and co-author of Stories from the Can. In his work, everyday objects — a small car, a tin of fish — become carriers of memory, identity, and cultural meaning.

He is curious in the best possible sense of the word. Thoughtful, sincere, open-minded. A person who moves through life with his eyes wide open — and, I suspect, with never quite enough bookshelf space.

In our conversation for Architect’s Dialogues, we explored memory, technology, writing, and the world we are shaping — and the one shaping us.

Warmly welcome to watch the episodes on YouTube channel Architect’s Dialogues or listen to them at Spotify, Apple Podcasts or some other podcasts platforms.

Location: in the vicinity of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Client: private
Type: single family house
Built: 2021-22
Contractor: Bauta
Photos: Miran Kambič

Fact sheet

  • usable surface 241 sq m

  • site 1293 sq m

  • construction time 14 months

  • reinforced concrete and wooden construction

  • passive house – energy consumption – PHPP: 14,8 kW /(m2a)

  • heat pump air-water

  • air recuperation

  • rain water recycling

Featured

  • OUTSIDER No. 33 - spring 2023

  • TV Ambienti - May, 2024

  • HAUSBAU - #3, 2024

  • Najlepše hiše 2024 (The Most Beautiful Houses 2024) magazine, 2024

  • Najlepše hiše 2025 (The Most Beautiful houses of 2025) magazine, 2025

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