This is an individual home of the early 70’s that had to be reconfigured in order to meet the current needs of a newly formed family. However, due to the controversial economic situation of recent years, the primary objective of the work’s architectural design was the construction budget to remain low. This agreement gave rise to finding clever solutions for the reduction of construction cost and the optimisation of the building’s energy behaviour.

Firstly, due to the land’s orientation on the east-west axis, but also the residencies opposite to it being rather low-rise and not sufficiently shading it during summer months, the old faces were exposed for several hours to the intense western solar radiation, making the use of air-conditioning necessary. It was considered thus obvious that the faces of the building, as well as the terrace apartment, had to be armoured with external thermal insulation.

At the same time, in order to improve the shading of the building’s western face, which was the most defective energy-wise, the existing metal railings of the balcony and the terrace apartment were reused -with the necessary modifications- as bases for wooden blinds.

Their allocation was realised with the help of the open-source software Sketch up, where various possible arrangements of the vertical elements were tested, as well as their impact on the facade’s shading per month and during various hours of the day.Furthermore, this new envelope, besides meeting the building’s energy needs, creates an additional limitation between the interior spaces and the road, thus bringing a greater sense of privacy.

It is worth mentioning that, for the budget to remain low, the constructional articulations and the splicing of wooden blinds with the metal substructure were simplified to such an extent that they remind of IKEA furniture. The intention was that the owner could place the woods by himself, using only three tools (cutting disk or saw and two wrenches), without needing a specialised service.

Yet, the resource saving takes places on the inside of the residence as well. The old shutters, for example, were reused as wardrobe door leaves, while non-load bearing walls of the air shafts were demolished and replaced by glass bricks, so that the natural light could reach formerly shaded spots. For the same reason, most of the internal partitions were removed, so that the common spaces could develop on a free and bright plan view.

photos by Mariana Bisti