Croatian cottage restoration makes all-time Top 20 A’ design award winners list

by croatiaweek
September 9, 2019
in Business

(Photo credit: Damir Fabijanić)

9 September 2019 – A traditional Zagorje cottage modern restoration has made designboom’s prestigious list of the all-time Top 20 A’ design award winners.

Every year, portal designboom holds the international A’ design award and competition which is dedicated to architects, designers and innovators and aims to showcase, share and inspire good design, creators and companies.

Over its history 35,263 projects have been submitted to the competition with 10,051 winning awards. The restoration and reworking of the traditional Zagorje ‘hiža’ located near Kumrovec was the porject of Zagreb studio PROARH and architect Davor Matekovic, and was the A’ design award winner in the architecture, building and structure design category in 2015.

(Photo credit: Damir Fabijanić)

The project was also among the finalists at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) which was held in Singapore also in 2015.

(Photo credit: Damir Fabijanić)

“Inspiration was found in the traditional architecture of Zagorje region. Untouched nature on the site called for an unintrusive design which was found in the interpretation of the traditional cottage, straw covered house with basic spaces.”

(Photo credit: Damir Fabijanić)

“Used technology was basic and from local craftsmen. The straw covering on the roof is replaced with a new one and extended over the facade, while the gables are newly wood-lined. The existing stone piedestal is kept, while the newly designed terrace is layed with a wood planks. The entrance walkway is made of tree stumps.As such the cottage becomes ‘organic’, easily renovated from locally available resources , it breathes and changes with time, creating a healthy living environment.”