The Bizarre yet Functional Vila Hermina
Written by Jennifer Heyns
My guess is that after her topsy-turvy experiences in Wonderland, if Alice were to design herself a house, it would look a lot like this house on a slope in Cernin, Czech Republic. Its daring façade has the distinct appearance of a Barbie-pink slice of cake and is situated flat atop a steeply sloped plot of property.
While the exterior leaves much to be desired with its rough spray-on pink polyurethane finish, the cramped interior is strategically and meticulously designed, making the most of every square inch – both inclined and level.
The ground floor mirrors the steep slope the structure rests upon. While other architects and builders would be inclined (no pun intended) to dig out a chunk of earth so the house would sit on a flat base, Sepka Architects of the Czech Republic, under the requests of the homeowners, designed the house to keep the natural slope. They wanted the ground floor to serve as a cinema with tiered seating. Not only was this a responsible way to design a home from a land disturber’s standpoint, but was also a stroke of genius from the home-theater-envy perspective.
The remainder of the home sees alternating sloped and level floor, creating a spiraling interior. What’s more, every square inch of space has been planned for maximum use. While more standard rooms are set on the level floors, the angled sloping floors that connect the level spaces serve many purposes.
Part of the inclines serve as access from one floor to the next, while the rest of the slanted spaces have their own unique functions. For example, reading chairs are suspended from the ceiling above in one area, allowing people to sit, hovered over the incline. Other slanted areas house secret compartments in the floor and ceiling, where desks and work spaces or televisions are kept out of the way when not in use.
The house is very small, only 635 square feet in size, but a virtual tour exhibits so many areas planned with double purposes, like the raised bed with a bookshelf built in underneath and the floor-to-ceiling cabinetry that’s being utilized as the kitchen, the closets, office and library.
It may be not so pretty in pink, but the unique planning of this house shows how designing a small home can be a piece of cake.
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