Banská Štiavnica

A house on the site of an old barn in the Štiavnica hills. The owner designed it himself; Talpa House added the structure and the technology.

The owner designed it himself.

124 m², three rooms and a study.

3 roomsstudyliving room with kitchenwalk-in wardrobegarage 20.48 m²

Banská Štiavnica, built 2021

From 375 000 €

Living room of the earth-sheltered house in Banska Stiavnica, grey sofa facing a sliding glass wall to the garden

The whole front of the house is glass, from living room to bedrooms.

Sliding doors take you straight outside from the living room, kitchen, study and bedrooms.

Glazed sliding facade of an earth-sheltered house in Banska Stiavnica, view into kitchen with wood ceiling beams and a study with OSB walls

A study with daylight.

The kitchen and the study both lie behind the glass wall. If you work from home, you sit by the window, not in a back room under the earth.

Bedrooms that look into the trees.

The bedrooms have tall windows onto the plot and its trees, not onto the slope behind the house. The three rooms come with a walk-in wardrobe.

Bedroom in the Banská Štiavnica earth-sheltered house, bed by a tall window, board-marked concrete wall beside it

Bedroom with timber-clad walls and beamed ceiling in the Banska Stiavnica earth-sheltered house, glazed doors open to greenery

View through a glazed wall into a bedroom of the earth-sheltered house in Banská Štiavnica, wood-plank ceiling and shelves of books beyond a sliding door — Bedroom from the garden

Earth cover
The house is covered by a layer of soil that insulates it, damps temperature swings and protects the shell from sun and frost.
Set into the existing terrain
The shape of the house follows the shape of the plot, not the other way round.
Preserved view
The house is placed so that the view from the plot stays untouched.
Garage
Set into the ground or covered with earth, the same as the house.

Green roofThe roof surface is alive. It holds back rainwater, cools itself by evaporation and gives the plot back the area the house took.
Timber interior surfacesWood on the walls, ceilings or floors, as a counterweight to the concrete.
Rooflights and light tubesDaylight also reaches rooms that have no south façade.

Bathroom of the earth-sheltered house in Banská Štiavnica, chevron-tiled tub wall, neon sign, concrete floor — Bathroom with bath

Earth-sheltered house in Banská Štiavnica with glazed front and grassy roof, seen across a wildflower meadow

On the site of an old barn.

The house stands where the original barn stood. Its back lies at the foot of a wooded slope, and earth and grass cover the roof. The plot gained greenery, and its view stayed open.