Nest and Cave House

Located in the hinterland of the Opatija riviera in Croatia, the Nest and Cave House remains typologically and morphologically true to the surrounding space as a whole, as it develops a hidden side through the dialectics of domination over and subordination to the landscape. Not being structured solely by the slope onto which it is built (as it is the case with most villas in Opatija), the conception actively constructs the landscape and intertwines it by laying down the ground floor on an upper object which hovers above as a displaced level.

The dislocated upper section and its hypertrophic console express is altered with shadow and hidden openness, the quintessential tension of a mediterranean house: the battle of the light and darkness. The home becomes a reinterpretation of its heritage by achieving a full form via projecting the object and opening the void in the facade, leaving behind an obscure volume to the living area. Through its fenestration facing away from the road and surrounding structures, the landscape penetrates and dictates the depth or flatness of the interior, with a visually dominant white aluminum covered steel grid to invite the kvarner bay inside. Site area: 1771,0 m2 Total layout surface area: 393,5 m2