Cozy waterfront cottage transforms old foundations

Architecture company Prodesi/Domesi’s new cottage in the Czech Republic was inspired by a ship. The small cottage is covered in sunburned larch planks and sits in the trees above the Vranov Dam. Storage spaces are hidden in every corner of the home, just like the cabin of a ship, and the structure manages to eke out 65 square meters of usable floor space with an open concept main floor and a private attic.

The interior is paneled in spruce, with large glass pane windows looking out over the water. This cottage actually sits on the owner’s inherited cottage foundations, handed down by the owner’s grandfather. The idea was to create a summer home for the family with every possible convenience built on the existing foundations of the old structure.

Related: Meet The Line, a sustainable design that looks like a ship

The architects had to deal with the influences of the surrounding forest land and the floor plan of the original cottage while creating the new home. Architect Klára Vratislavová said, “The construction of the house went hand in hand with its interior design, so that we could make good use of every inch of space that the original grandfather’s cottage had set for us.”

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The cottage features a dining room, living room with a water view, spacious entrance hall with a bench, bathroom, toilet room, pantry and utility room. Upstairs there are new larger and smaller bedrooms plus a dressing room. “We took a reverse approach when designing the upstairs. First, we created the necessary spaces for bedrooms and after that we “cut off” the exceeding part of the roof, so that the house would be as small as possible. Our goal was to design a building that humbly integrates into the green slope above the water with mostly modest old cottages,” Vratislavová added.

The ship design was inspired by the nearby water. It’s designed to merge into the landscape while providing a cozy, functional space inside for the owners.

+ Prodesi/Domesi

Images via Boys Play Nice