celebrating traditional morphologies in freestyle fashion 

Set in the Czechian highlands of Jeseniky, the ‘Apartments Filipovice’ by Atelier CL3 Studio celebrates the region’s traditional architectural morphology in freestyle fashion. The new complex features two residential buildings designed as monolithic rectangular foundations, each clad in locally sourced larch shingles and crowned with a classic wooden gable roof. The larch cladding will naturally darken over time, allowing the built volumes to gently blend into the mountainous landscape.

Steadily contrasting the naturally greying larch shell is a mosaic of colored loggias and windows — painted blue for the first building and yellow for the second. ‘The crystalline shine of the colored glass mosaic, together with the strictly square windows of the same frame color, define the character of the buildings,’ writes CL3. 

all images © Tomáš Slavík

a rich material palette composing  ‘apartments filipovice’ by CL3 

As clearly displayed, ‘Apartments Filipovice’ relies on traditional materials, characteristic of the Jeseniky region and Czechian culture. Atelier CL3 (see more here) first erected the buildings atop strip foundations before composing each residential part as a hybrid of sand-lime brick walls and reinforced concrete ceilings. Meanwhile, larch shingles extracted from the local forest were used to clad each building exterior — ‘a free paraphrase of the façades of local barns, and gabels of residential buildings,’ continues the studio.

Indoors, the spaces take on a more contemporary and minimalist quality, with vibrant blue and yellow staircases set against a clean white backdrop. The bedrooms, however, while simple in their design, evoke the traditional barn experience, with scenic views of the pastoral landscape ahead. 

‘Apartments Filipovice’ – a celebration of traditional architecture with a modern twist

Lastly, each building has been designed to be as self-sufficient as possible in respect to the mountainous environment; the only supplied utility is power. ‘Heating is based on a groundwater heat pump, common areas are equipped with air recuperation, water comes from its well with water-supplying equipment, and wastewater will be disposed to a domestic sewage treatment plant with cleaned water absorption to the ground,’ notes CL3.

a mosaic of windows and voids completes the design

Atelier CL3 clad each building in larch shingles

using yellow and blue as accent tones

colored loggias define the ground floor of each apartment building