House On The Edge Of The Plain / Skupaj Arhitekti

Architects: Skupaj Arhitekti
Area: 120 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Ana Skobe
Lead Architect: Tomaž Ebenšpanger
Landscape Architecture: Studio TSK
Structural Engineering: Inženiring Biro Armatura
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering: REing, Rational Energy
Location: Murska Sobota
Country: Slovenia

House on the Edge of the Plain reinterprets the pavilion typology as a contemporary dwelling grounded in openness, flexibility, and landscape integration. Located in Murska Sobota, the project responds to both strict planning constraints and local architectural traditions, embracing low horizontal proportions, generous glazing, and a strong indoor-outdoor relationship. The spatial organization is defined by three reinforced concrete cores that consolidate services and structure, allowing the remaining interior to remain fluid and adaptable. Distinct orientations differentiate living and private zones, each engaging with separate garden conditions. Material expression is rooted in exposed concrete cast with local aggregates, complemented by restrained interior elements that emphasize durability and simplicity. Strategic design gestures, such as a glazed corner and a retractable panoramic window, dissolve spatial boundaries and extend domestic life into the surrounding landscape. The house prioritizes lived experience, seasonal change, and tactile materiality over formal spectacle, offering a subtle yet deliberate architectural response to its context.

On a material level, the project deliberately replaces refinement with depth. Exposed concrete, composed of local river gravel from the nearby Mura, carries within it traces of origin, reuse, and imperfection. It is a material that speaks of process and time rather than finish. This approach embeds a quiet, inherent sustainability into the building—one that does not rely on technological expression, but on continuity with place and resource.
Interval with Tomaž Ebenšpanger of Skupaj Arhitekti

House on the edge of the plain / skupaj arhitekti

The project positions itself as a deliberate counterpoint to suburban residential conventions, privileging spatial continuity and experiential richness over compositional display. Rather than asserting itself as an object within the landscape, the house operates as a calibrated framework that mediates between domestic life and the expansive plain. Its architectural language is understated, yet it reveals a precise negotiation between regulatory constraints and a desire for openness, resulting in a built form that appears both restrained and quietly expansive.

At the core of the design lies a structural and organizational strategy that consolidates complexity into three reinforced concrete volumes. These cores accommodate essential functions, including kitchen, bathroom, and utility spaces, while simultaneously supporting the roof slab. This approach liberates the surrounding plan, enabling a continuous, adaptable living environment that can shift according to daily routines and seasonal patterns. The absence of conventional partitions reinforces a sense of spatial fluidity, while a linear storage element subtly articulates zones without interrupting visual continuity.

Orientation plays a decisive role in shaping the domestic experience. The living and dining areas extend toward the south-west, engaging directly with a terrace and garden that capture sunlight and seasonal variation. In contrast, more private functions are oriented toward a quieter north-east garden, establishing a nuanced gradient between exposure and intimacy. This duality is further enhanced by architectural details that dissolve enclosure, including a structurally recessed glazed corner and a sliding panoramic opening that fully retracts into the wall assembly.

Material treatment underscores the project’s commitment to authenticity and tactility. Exposed concrete, enriched with locally sourced Mura river gravel, defines both interior and exterior surfaces. The material retains the imprint of reused formwork, introducing subtle irregularities and a layered patina that resists uniformity. This expression of construction becomes integral to the architectural narrative, embedding time and process into the built fabric. Internally, the palette remains deliberately restrained, with polished concrete floors, veneered chipboard furnishings, and repurposed elements contributing to a quiet, lived-in atmosphere.

The house ultimately reframes domestic architecture as an evolving spatial condition rather than a fixed composition. Its emphasis on openness, material honesty, and environmental engagement fosters a mode of inhabitation attuned to light, weather, and routine. In doing so, it offers a thoughtful reinterpretation of regional modernist principles, aligning rational construction with a subtle, poetic sensitivity to place.