Tomislav Soldo designed the Black Lodge made of aerated concrete blocks

Architects: Tomislav Soldo
Location: Ogulin, Croatia
Year: 2016
Area: 1.076 ft²/ 100 m²
Photography: ©Jure Živković
Description:

“The genesis of this house might have a somewhat peculiar narrative. The possibly reversed but certainly not unwanted process of conceiving and designing the space where the foremost sensory role has the nature itself.

Initially, before everything else, there was a walnut tree, providing perfect natural shade and representing the first outdoor residing space. Over time, a terrace was gradually shaped around the tree, and eventually the idea of building the house emerged.

The sloped terrain with its panoramic view overlooking the nearby forest and mountainscape together with the position of the existing terrace were the only determining elements in the process of designing this country house.

Without any need for flirting with or referring to existing and traditional in its surrounding, with no need for appropriation or approval, this was simply about to be a house on a hill, a terrace extension and enclosed belvedere. The pitched roof, the compact layout design and the usage of wood in facade cladding were the only distinctive functional elements of the region accepted and implemented into the design.