Locus | Alexandru Zingaliuc

Locus house is a concept project for a single family home in Chisinau. It would have been built near the Dendrarium Park on a steep slope among the pine trees. The house is scaled to it’s users and surroundings and doesn’t create any stark contrasts with the site. The shape of the house is relatively narrow and elongated with a cantilevered terrace floating over the landscape.

            As the name “Locus” suggests, the house is “A place” or maybe ”The place”, defined by it’s context and content, the house aims to provide privacy and confort, a place where time and space are submited to the forestlike environment of the nearby park. Most of the exterior walls are opaque with lighting voids being placed purposefully to obtain proper ambient lighting in specific parts of the house. The bedrooms are lit mostly by diffuse light, through the interior courtyard. The living area offers an immersive experience into the forest due to its openness to the landscape while the elevated terrace acts as a observation point. The entrance hall, is lit by a large window, on the southern side of the building, which also has a scenographic role, exposing a bronze statue of a man with a giant raindrop resting on its face, the satue is called Rain, and it was made by Nazar Bilyk. The statue is “dedicated to the inner dialogue of a man with himself” in theme with the serene environment that the house celebrates.

The main entrance into the house leads to the entrance hall on the southern side of the house and a secondary entrance with a more technical role. has a covered area with enough space for parking two autovehicles. Overall the architecture of the house is defined by sharp lines and a clean geometry. The only distinctive building element that has a more organic form is the concrete wall that separates the courtyard and the entrance hall. The curved shape of the wall creates a niche for the Rain statue and the brute unfinished concrete wall contrasts the white finish of the exterior facade. The interior has a modern minimalist aesthetic using a restricted pallet of colors and natural materials. Functionally the house can be divided in two groups of rooms: private rooms, comprised by 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and the living area, which is consisted of an open space that connects the courtyard and the cantilevered terrace, has a dinning area, a cooking isle and a lounge area.