The cottage was completed in 2018 by Russian architecture company Snegiri Architects as a “passive house,” with the capacity to conserve 90 per cent more energy than a typical home owing to certain technical know-how. The majority of the rooms and windows in the building face the sun in order to capture more natural heat and light.
The structure also has a ventilation system and Swedish plate technology, which combines a heated monolithic foundation plate design with a floor heating system. Finally, the house is insulated with cold-proof mineral wool and coated with flax-saturated Larix wood.
One of the most notable aspects of this project is its full integration into the environment – we sufficed in maintaining existing trees on the construction site, and the little obvious structure does not transcend the landscape, becoming its organic extension, thanks to the green roof.
The top of Passive House is literally green, with a living “carpet” of plants, including stonecrop and dwarf plants like wild chamomile.
There was not a single tree chopped down in the adjacent birch and pine forest to enable the construction of the Passive House, a passive dwelling on Moscow’s outskirts that is supposed to consume 90 per cent less energy than a conventional residence.
According to architect Nikita Kapiturov of St. Petersburg-based company Snegiri Architects, the mansion was intended for “a man appreciative of novelties.” A lengthy road runs to the side of the house, where the client’s Tesla charging station and parking place are located. A waterfall of vegetation, including stonecrop and dwarf crops like wild chamomile, carpets the slanting green roof.
To aid in passive insulation, the exterior is comprised of darker larch wood infused with natural flax oil. The foundation of the house integrates Swedish plate technology, which helps to winterize it, making the construction virtually cold-proof and frost-resistant.
The majority of the structure’s energy-saving windows and doors are on the sunny side of the property, which helps to keep the residence warm in the northern clime. The sliding doors lead to a large patio, which floods the internal areas with light.
An oak staircase connects the two floors of the house. Luxurious materials such as brushed satin-brass fixtures and mineral Greek plaster walls mingle to a rich effect in a bathroom, nodding to the overall theme of lightness and darkness.
Building new homes, particularly passive houses, in dense woodlands without felling trees is nearly impossible unless the trees are incorporated into the home’s design. Snegiri Architects built Hill House to be completely integrated into the surrounding environment while preserving the forested lot’s pre-existing trees. Hill House’s living green roof sprawls with a grass carpet filled with stonecrop and dwarf plants such as chamomile and sedum and is planned with diverse plant life and shrubbery.
The green roof of Hill House conceals the home’s structural presence, bringing it inch by inch into the surrounding woods. The rest of the exterior of Hill House is a mix of black-stained wood-panelled facades and natural, unstained wood-panelled eaves.
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