DIDA House by Pacarizi

The private housing market for single families is one of the few architectural structures that is positively changing during the recent years in Kosova. It is where architects still have the opportunity and some freedom to innovate and explore new conceptual and spatial possibilities. This project of Gezim Pacarizi, is a good example of this fact. Even though it is not the first housing commission for the architect, also the curator of Kosova Pavillion at the Exhibition of Architecture in the Biennale of Venice.

In fact the most of his built works correspond to this exact typology, as does the Dida House, a holiday home, built during 2008 in the Sharr Mountains near Prizren. A project which was also included in the Venice Biennale 2014 Catalogue as part of the 100 years of Modernity 1914-2014, illustrating the year 2008.

The house links the internal and outside spaces in such a way that the hierarchy of rooms and the sense of place recall the traditional living. Yet the large spans, generosity of space, modern vocabulary, offers to the Dida family a particular relation with the landscapes around. It’s an example how to be inspired from the traditional space without formal relation to the past.

Therefore in terms of materials, the architect prevailed the use of traditional materials, as plastering, bricks, timber and glass joining accordingly to the surrounding nature. Also the structure’s sloping plot and its surrounding garden have been wisely solved with a series of low-rise concrete terraces and pathways that progress through the outdoor ambient.