Passive house in Trutnov on Red hill
Červený kopec has been a focal point of residential development in Trutnov over the past two decades. The plot is located directly on the ridge of the hill, continuing the older housing development from previous years. It is bordered by a local road to the north and by pedestrian pathways to the east and south, giving it a corner-like character.
Views towards the city and the surrounding landscape will likely be partially screened by the neighbouring buildings. The orientation of the site is well suited to the intended low-energy or passive standard and also supports the optimal placement of the garden.
The trapezoidal plot faces south and slopes gently towards the east. The difference between the highest and lowest point is 1.3 metres. It is an end plot within a row of houses, surrounded on three sides by public space: an access road to the north, and pedestrian walkways to the east and south.
We placed the rectangular building footprint with a gabled roof along the eastern edge of the plot, directly on the building line defined by the zoning plan. This decision reinforced the street frontage and the urbanistically exposed corner condition, while simultaneously freeing up the most pleasant part of the site — the south-western area — for the garden. The garden is thus screened by the volume of the house from the pedestrian route to the east, and from the north by a garden pavilion with a covered parking shelter.
The task was to design a two-storey family house for two permanent residents, with low demands in terms of maintenance and operation. A key requirement was also a reserve capacity for a barrier-free bedroom on the ground floor, to be used flexibly under normal conditions (for example as a guest room), ensuring the house can respond to different life situations and needs.
Further requirements included sufficient storage space for an active sporting lifestyle, as well as a covered parking space combined with a garden storage room, located outside the main building volume. The structural material was also specified in the brief: glued laminated timber trusses, with the potential for local production.
We sought a conceptual approach to a spatially generous house that would simultaneously comply with the excessive regulatory constraints. We chose a solution in which the regulations themselves become the core concept: a roof ridge oriented perpendicular to the street axis, running diagonally across the rectangular footprint of the house. The building is placed at the very corner of the plot, aligned parallel to its longer side.
The asymmetrical placement of the roof is the main external feature of an otherwise archetypal gabled volume. A frame structure of glued laminated timber trusses divides the house into 2.5-metre modules. The centre of the house forms a direct passage from the entrance on the north to the terrace on the south. Along both sides of this central “corridor”, 2.5 × 2.5 × 2.5 metre cells emerge — an imagined spatial grid. In service areas, this grid is filled with built-in equipment that follows its geometry. The main living space, by contrast, remains open and unbuilt, containing only freely arranged furniture. This principle continues in the attic, where the space is further shaped by the sloping roof.
We propose a two-storey timber house composed of five structural bays formed by glued laminated timber frames. The frames are spaced at 2.5 metres on centre, with a span of 6.5 metres and a height of 6.8 metres. A ceiling slab separating the ground floor from the attic is inserted into the three northern bays.
The ground floor is traversed by an internal “street” running from the main entrance in the north to the terrace at the southern porch. Connected to it are individual “inserted” cells accommodating the utility room, wardrobe and sports storage, bathroom, and a flexible multi-purpose module.
The glazing of the longitudinal façades follows the structural module in its rhythm. A narrow strip of windows on the eastern façade provides natural light to the technical facilities, bathroom, and staircase without direct visual contact with the street. The western ribbon window offers a generous connection to the garden. The northern façade is perforated only by the entrance door and a small bedroom window framing a view towards Černá hora. The southern façade opens through a French door onto the terrace.
The building will be founded on concrete strip footings. The house is designed as a timber structure of exposed glued laminated frames, with a ceiling inserted above the northern section. The timber frames will remain visible in the interior. The façade assembly, including the roof, will be ventilated.
Our aim was to insert a simple, colour-neutral object into a surrounding context of exuberant forms and vivid colours. For this reason, the house façade and the site fencing are designed from vertical larch boards and planks, stained in a dark grey tone. The material unity of the fence and the house clearly expresses that the building belongs to the plot, and the plot to the building.
The roof is specified as a standing-seam titanium-zinc cladding, also in a dark grey shade. The wood-aluminium windows are finished in dark grey on the exterior.
The interior of the house remains restrained and sober. The timber frames are left exposed in their natural appearance. The internal lining (gypsum board / Fermacell panels) is finished in white paint. The inserted spatial cells may either be differentiated through colour and material or remain neutral; however, they always respect the principle of an inserted infill within the structural grid, and thus remain clearly legible as independent elements.
Authors: Benedikt Markel, Michal Rouha, Martin Chlanda, Jana Fischerová
Location: Trutnov, Červený kopec
Photographs: Michal Rouha, Benedikt Markel
