Sedlo

Project idea

SEDLO - the project takes its name from the terrain saddle on which the farmstead sits, nestled into the hillside landscape of the Biele Karpaty Protected Landscape Area near Vrbovce.
The design is governed by a single founding decision: the original stone agricultural building is the most valuable element of the homestead and must be preserved in its entirety. It carries the historical memory of the place, authentic materiality, and a direct connection to the original way of farming on these isolated hillside settlements. Rather than treating the entire site as a blank slate, the remaining parts of the farmstead are understood as space for a new architectural layer to emerge.
This gives rise to the core principle of old and new. The aim is not to replicate the original homestead, but to create its contemporary interpretation. New volumes do not imitate historical architecture. They enter into a dialogue with the preserved stone building. The contrast between old and new allows the authenticity of the original structure to assert itself, while simultaneously acknowledging the honest presence of a contemporary intervention. Where the old is rough, heavy, and rooted - the new is restrained, precise, and light.
The covered passage connecting the two buildings becomes the spatial heart of the project: a threshold between memory and the present, between shelter and landscape.

Project description

The project addresses the renewal and adaptation of a traditional isolated hillside farmstead (kopaničiarska usadlosť) near Vrbovce in the Biele Karpaty Protected Landscape Area. The property consists of two structures situated on a sloped site characteristic of the kopanice settlement type - dispersed single farmsteads historically common to the White Carpathian foothills of western Slovakia.
The intervention preserves and rehabilitates the original stone agricultural building as a protected historic structure, restoring its material integrity while adapting it for contemporary use. The second building is replaced by a new volume that responds to the scale, rhythm, and siting logic of the original farmstead without mimicking its form. The covered arcade connecting the two buildings defines an outdoor room that mediates between the enclosed domestic spaces and the open agricultural landscape.
The project operates within the strict regulatory framework of the CHKO Biele Karpaty protected landscape area, informing decisions about materials, massing, roof form, and relationship to the terrain. The result is a homestead that is simultaneously rooted in its local building tradition and legible as a work of contemporary architecture.

Technical information

Project: Renewal and Adaptation of a Traditional Hillside Farmstead - SEDLO
Location: Near Vrbovce, Biele Karpaty Protected Landscape Area, Myjava district, Slovakia
Building type: Kopaničiarska usadlosť - traditional isolated hillside farmstead
Programme: Residential renewal with adaptive reuse of agricultural structure
Site: Sloped terrain, two-building farmstead compound
Regulatory context: CHKO Biele Karpaty (Protected Landscape Area)
Design approach: Conservation of original stone building + new contemporary volume in dialogue
Materials: Lime-rendered masonry walls, natural stone, dark metal roofing, timber structure and details

Documentation

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