Cetatuia Loft / Ion Popusoi + Bogdan Preda

Architects: Ion Popusoi + Bogdan Preda
Location: Brasov, Romania
Client: Micomis
Engineering: Rozini
Site Area: 415 sqm
Project Area: 1500 sqm
Project Year: 2007 – 2009
Photographs: Cosmin Dragomir

The building site is situated on Cetatuia Street, at the edge of the historical center of the town, with an amazing panoramic view over the mountains and historical center of the city.

This context demanded that the positive aspects of the site and the landscape are emphasized and exploited, while the space is used to its maximum potential.

The building was designed as a residential housing including 6 apartments (2 per each level) and 2 lofts. This led to a compact building, very conscious of the value of the site and of the panoramic views it could offer.

The clean, simple shape of the construction is enriched using the contrast and interaction between different materials with specific textures and colors.

Windows reach to the floor, which makes the room appear larger, flooded with light, while roof windows bring daylight deep down into the living room through the glass flooring.

The glass wall on the last floor for the master’s bedroom opens a new direction to the living room and farther to the city through the roof windows.

elevations

diagram 01

Without these glazed surfaces – horizontal and vertical – the house would have lost a very important spatial dimension and the relationship between the interior and the landscape.

Strongly emphasized verticality of the living room walls is attenuated by the gallery of openings of various sizes and depths, connecting this room to something beyond the wall, either inside or outside the house. These are actually the interior decorations of the house.

The stair was reduced to its minimum – the steps. Railing was almost dematerialized by transparent glass, thus non-essential elements that altered the clear perception of the space where eliminated as much as possible.