Project: Zatoka House
Architects: Studio Arkhitekton
Location: Ostrovica, Serbia
Area: 861 sf
Year: 2023
Photographs by: Relja Ivanic, Aleksandar Nakic
Zatoka House by Studio Arkhitekton
Carved from the mountain itself, this vacation house whispers a story of human and nature existing as one. It was built with local hands and materials. The Zatoka house integrates seamlessly into its rugged surroundings. Stone, wood, and earth – the very essence of the landscape – form its walls. Even the furniture is a testament to nature’s bounty, fashioned from fallen trees. But within this simple form lies a surprising complexity. Here, the challenges of the mountain environment are met with an ingenious solution, born from collaboration with the local community.
This vacation house is designed in complete harmony with nature and built by the owners and local community, aiming not to defy its surroundings but rather to integrate that nature into the structure itself. Natural materials of local origin were used throughout the construction process. The house itself is very close to the local quarry where majority of the materials for the house came from. Also, landscaping was mostly done with gravel and stones from the same place and acacia trees from the nearby woods. The outdoor furniture is nothing more that two elm three cut during the building process.
Although the building has the simplest form of a “box,” the task for the design was by no means easy. The desire was to protect the structure from the conditions dictated by the location of the mountains, the water descending from those mountains and the river situated at the very front of the house, while also maintaining a connection with nature. Solving the problems of possible land slides was done by listening to local community with fixing the infrastructure of the whole area.
Within the 80-square-meter interior lies a multifunctional space that transcends traditional boundaries. Serving as both a family home and a creative sanctuary, the space seamlessly transitions between daily living and artistic inspiration. The owners, themselves passionate photographers, find endless inspiration within these walls, where every corner speaks to the harmony between human ingenuity and the natural world.
