Kosmaj Zomes | Serbia
20 maart 2023
Project: Kosmaj Zomes, Ducina | Serbia
Architect: Evozome design, Belgrade | Serbia
Fabricator + Installer: Evozome design, Belgrade | Serbia
Façade System: Tray Panels Special Design
Year of Construction: 2022
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS spectra Sakura
Photos + Drawings: Evozome design
UNUSUAL WOODLAND ANIMALS
In general, life is becoming more and more complex for most of us: increasingly technical, interconnected, global and digital. And most of us tend to find this a strain. All the more reason to seek places of refuge, in the here and now, in solitude, simplicity and nature. For instance, the Armadillo cottages. These four small circular houses offer either 26 m² or 33 m² of living space. The first two are located in the vast Kosmaj Forest, just half an hour from Belgrade ? perfect for a romantic weekend. The other two are located at an altitude of almost 1,400 meters in the Kopaonik ski resort in southern Serbia. Like little dwellings for elves or pixies, they are isolated, surrounded by trees and mountains. Indeed, nature was the source of inspiration for the architects’ design. The timber houses are raised on stilts above ground level setting them slightly apart from the real world. The timber roof structure is diamond-shaped and, like a nutshell, it wraps around the living space and reaches right down to the ground. A bathroom is located in the centre of each living space and on top of it is the loft bed, set directly under the glass roof and the starry skies above. On the ground floor, the living areas feature design-conscious interiors, and small glass portholes offer views of the forest. The steep pitch of the roofs creates a sheltered, cave-like atmosphere inside. These roofs, by the way, are the reason why the houses have been given their unusual name. In fact, like an armadillo, they are protected by a sturdy carapace of scales. The scales, however, are made of ALUCOBOND® tray panels. These are folded into the shape of a leaf, with a raised diagonal central crease line and slender sides which gradually increase in depth towards the lower end. Their folded geometry and raised edges accentuate the light and shade on the scales and, although the composite panels are actually flat and thin, the roofs appear rounder, thicker and more protective. The choice of the polychrome surface adds another special effect: Sakura, the iridescent ALUCOBOND® surface, features a delicate colour gradient, transitioning from pale pink to purple or to dark grey-green, depending on how the light falls. Like the foliage on trees, the scales on the roofs change colour throughout the day and according to the season. Sometimes they make the armadillo houses shimmer in the sunlight; sometimes they camouflage them in the dusky darkness of the forest.