Cottage on a Dead-End Road

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Study 2026, project 2026

Orlické Mountains
Ing. arch. Pavel Lejdar, Ing. arch. Nikola Bisová

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A beautiful, generous plot surrounded by meadows on a south-facing slope of the Orlické Mountains. A house once stood here; today, only a faint trace of ruins remains—as is often the case in the Sudetenland.

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The client chose us based on our design for a cottage in the Jizera Mountains. Although we explored alternative options, the final proposal still clearly reflects its origin.

We designed a timber structure with a simple archetype—a house set on a stone-clad plinth, topped with a gabled roof with generous overhangs, its ridge aligned with the contour line. From below, along the access road, the house remains understated. Aside from the round windows in the gables, it aims to blend in and grow naturally from the slope, much like the houses built by our predecessors.

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From above, where the terrace connects to the main living space, the ground floor is fully glazed on three sides, allowing the open landscape to flow into the interior. The glazed volume is subtly screened by a grid of naturally greying wooden boards, which extend across the other façades in varying orientations.