House NODI

Located in the small town of Ivanić-Grad, the house stands within a carefully ordered suburban landscape composed of modest detached and semi-detached dwellings with a gable roof, each approximately 8×8 metres in size. The plots, around 500 square metres with their narrow sides facing the street, form a rhythmic fabric of domestic gardens and pitched roofs. Within this context, the project sought to expand the living space of a three-member family and to create an intimate inner garden — using minimal means and subtle architectural gestures.

The intervention extends an existing semi-detached single-storey house. The new volume, narrow and low, is slightly recessed from the original structure and positioned along the western edge of the plot. It accommodates the entrance, kitchen, dining area, loggia and living room, which open onto an outdoor terrace with a barbecue, while the existing volume retains the bedrooms. The extension is conceived as a tripartite composition. A compact strip of service spaces runs along the property boundary; the central, wider zone contains the main living areas; and a third longitudinal element — a covered porch — defines the edge of a newly formed enclosed courtyard. A continuous wooden bench runs along the porch, extending seamlessly from the kitchen and dining area into the exterior. The boundary between inside and outside is marked by a full-height glass façade that spans from the bench to the underside of the eave, dissolving the threshold between domestic interior and garden.

Structurally, the extension is formed by two longitudinal masonry walls of concrete blockwork that carry a flat concrete slab over the service areas and a pitched timber roof over the main living spaces. The oak roof structure rests on a slender steel frame that also supports the fixed glazing. The roof and eaves are clad in untreated standing-seam aluminium, while all timber elements — joinery, bench, porch, and façades facing the garden and entrance — are made of oiled larch, adding warmth and tactility to the restrained material palette. The project operates quietly within its suburban setting — refining the ordinary, reinterpreting the domestic scale, and articulating new spatial intimacy through clarity of structure and material.