country house with a total area of 220 m2 (Vilnius) Darius Yushkevicius, Vitas Silyavichus, Paulius Trimonis
Passing the gallery
Stylist: Olga Voronina
A photo: Karen Manko
Text: Danila Gulyaev
Architect: Darus Yuskiewiche, Vitas Silivicheyus, Paulus Trimonis
Magazine: N6 (95) 2005
A house designed by architect Darius Yushkevicius looks like it is located outside the city. In fact, it is located in one of the districts of Vilnius, but seems to ignore this fact. The facade is facing the park, and to the city street - backwards. Therefore, it seems to us and its inhabitants that this is a suburban house. This whole house is built on optical illusions and visual effects. He not only looks country, it seems that he is standing on a large free piece of land. Just this house is small. The owners expressed such a wish to the architect: that the house was absolutely small and not clutter up a small area of land. So it happened. Moreover, the area limit was not the only one: in this area of Vilnius it is impossible to build houses above two floors. The architect used the limitations both vertically and horizontally for his own purposes, having built the space with the help of several clever tricks. He made a small house, but he unfolded the interior rooms generously, without crowding. The fact is that on the ground floor there is only a living room and nothing else. On the second - only the bedroom. And everything else - children's rooms, kitchen, office space - the author of the project placed in a one-story extension, facing the street and not conspicuous. The living room space is visually enlarged by windows and shop-windows: it was a sin not to use the view of the park with maximum efficiency. This highly relevant approach to the harmony of interior and landscape is also manifested in the natural minimalism of the living room design. The leading combination here is white walls and light wood with an underlined texture. As they say, the type is Nordic or, more precisely, Scandinavian. The flooring, the kitchen, the staircase, and even the thin columns are trimmed with wood. Even woody drawing and its longitudinal strips work for visual expansion and extension of the interior. The same task is performed by the absence of a partition between the living room and the dining room-kitchen. Moreover, the dining-kitchen is no longer in the main house, but in a one-story annexe, the foundation of which is higher, which is why the dining room is above the living room - they are connected by a ladder. The staircase to the second floor plays a special aesthetic and functional role in the house. It complements and ornaments the rectangular geometry of space. Generally, it is the straight lines and simple shapes that form the interior of this house. Each element, be it a stone panel or an aquarium in the wall, plays its role here, and as a result a multidimensional, volumetric model of space arises from the elementary geometry. The second floor is a separate song. The walls here are not, as expected, at an angle of 90 degrees - they are diagonal. From the outside, it looks like a trendy architectural device, but from the inside ... again it allows you to increase the space: the ceiling area of the bedroom is larger than the floor area. It turns out such an attic on the contrary, as if inverted. It is especially interesting to look at the window while lying in bed - it creates the illusion of moving forward. Such a set of optical-architectural effects is a way to create a full-fledged space in capital cities, where every square meter is almost precious.Дарюс Юшкявичюс: “The architecture of this house is largely due to objective reasons. In Vilnius, you cannot build houses above two floors in the city. Yes, and the owners expressed the wish that the house be quite small and not clutter up a small area of land. Therefore, I had to build a space with a few witty receptions. "
