As its name suggests, House Between The Trees is a wonderful modern home that is encircled by chestnut trees. It is located in Bratislava, Slovakia and was completed in 2014 by a team of architects from Architekti Šebo Lichý. Boasting 2,174 square feet of living space, the abode flaunts a tight connection with its surrounding environment thanks to the multitude of glass elements such as walls and windows.
Since the terrain is sloped and somewhat inhospitable, the architects had to support the front part of the house on dynamic pylons while wedging the rear part into the terrain itself. Due to this original design strategy, the residence features two underground levels as well as two above ground ones. The first aboveground level houses the entryway and the private living arrangements for the parents. The children’s rooms are located upstairs.
The first underground level includes a state-of-the-art gymnasium, while the second floor incorporates a garage.
From the architect:
Steep terrain with three robust chestnut trees, which owners decided to preserve. This is how the property on which a unique family house was to be built looked at the beginning. Architects from Šebo Lichýˈs atelier took the challenge and designed a genuine construction inspired by famous Tugendhat villa.
The front part of the house is levitating on dynamic pillars and provides amazing panoramic views of the surrounding area. The back part of the house is plunging into the rising hill and is composed of several levels. When entering the house you find yourself in the middle floor, which is spacious and completely barrier free thanks to the extended part on the pillars. This floor belongs to parents with their bedroom, bathroom and workroom. There is also living room and kitchen, visually separated with the fireplace. Huge windows can be open to enable ventilation of the space. The floor above the children rooms with their own bathrooms and patios are situated. The floor below there is a basement with laundry room and home gym. A genuine invention represents the shaft for laundry, which delivers the clothes from discreet cover on the corridor right to the basement.
From that floor you get to the outdoor terrace with grill, sheltered with the extended floor on the pillars from above. Contact with nature in this realization is achieved in several ways. Family can enjoy barbecue on the large sheltered terrace, sun on the patios, which has almost every room or an amazing panoramic view in the living room. Right there the glassy walls provide stunning views, which vary as if it was a live painting following change of the weather, the seasons, the day and the night. Tightly close growing chestnuts creates the feeling of living among trees.
At the lowest level there is a garage, connected with the house through the passage. The garage is cleverly hidden under the green grassy roof so you don’t even notice it when you look at the garden.  The house is built in a nice quiet area near to the city centre. Unusual family villa takes full advantage of the steep terrain in the best possible way. Connection with nature is almost tangible there and undoubtedly improves the quality of life in the city.
Architects: Šebo Lichý architects
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Architects in Charge: Tomáš Šebo, Igor Lichý
Area: 202.0 sqm
Project Year: 2014
Photographs: Tomáš Manina
Design Team: KatarÃna Uhnáková, Å tefan Onofrej, Martina MatuÅ¡ová- interior design
