Housing Mlac

The design draws its inspiration from the terrace-shaped hill side reflecting its erstwhile cultivation and use, and turns it into built landscape. The historic terraced shape typical for the Mediterranean environment is radically transformed into architecture. The topographical situation is thus a crucial element of the project. Two grooves cut into the terrain by the two brooks represent a natural border of intervention. The other starting point is the town of Ozeljan with its rows of houses and the centre comprising a castle, a church, and a Baroque park, which is referenced by the new design. With the new development, a vis-a-vis between the old and the new is established. The architecture of the whole is also both orderly and diverse at the same time so as to yield a harmonious image of the whole by means of fractal heterogeneity. The pattern of private gardens on the terraces comes together to form a whole comprised of individual pixels of green roofs and terraces, shadows under the eaves – glass surfaces of the windows – and stone-laid retaining walls, with tree crowns appearing as dots scattered among them. The urban pattern is thus recognisable due to its morphological homogeneity, just like a vineyard. The types of houses are different even though they all stem from the same idea of a lengthwise house with its longer side pointing towards the south, fitting the terrain.