Ivan Jarina built his family's house in Marianka, near Bratislava to blend harmoniously with the local landscape and ecosystem. The architect observed the surroundings to seek inspiration from the local "genius loci" rather than modifying the context. Traditional and recycled materials were used like wood, bricks and stone to construct the house in a sustainable way. At the center of the house is an old apple tree, intended to divide the home into sections for adults and children while also connecting the family to nature. The goal was to create an eco-friendly home respecting the natural environment.

1. Ivan Jarina, współpraca: Anna Maria Jarina
House under
the Apple Tree
in Marianka
I
n the broad context of eco-friendly
architecture I am mostly concerned
with architecture which blends with
the local ecosystem, with architecture
which is an object of landscape rather than
a construction. The architect observes the
surroundings, seeks the genius loci, adapts to
the context rather than modifies it. In this
approach it turns out that what initially
seemed to be a limitation becomes a challenge. The designing process starts with difficulties, with seeking proportions, materials
or colours characteristic of a given place,
where the search for beauty takes precedence
over the provision of all desirable functions
and technologies. That is why in my work I
apply the soft planning approach, in which my
clients’ initial ideas of the needs they have
are progressively replaced by our joint search
for priorities, which results in the singling
out of the clients’ major necessities in the
spirit of minimalism, while other wishes are
fulfilled gradually, if they are still considered important. The aim of this approach is
to obey the principle of economy in natural
resources management that is characteristic of sustainable architecture. In practice it
means applying the 3R principle: reduce, reuse
and recycle.
The wooden house where I live with my
family was built as a master house, in which
various techniques of building with wood
were utilised (the framework was a log
house, a frame construction with a wooden
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2. Ivan Jarina, Architect’s home in Marianka, near
Bratislava
dome and sandwich). Traditional materials
are used with some reluctance, which is typical of modernity, rather than retro oriented.
The house under the apple tree was constructed in the spirit of slow design, applying
the principles of slow architecture. The idea is
to find enough time for everything, and the
resolution ‘I must’ is replaced with ‘I want’.
The centre of the house is an old apple tree
which was intended as the heart of the
house, and was meant to divide it into the
sections for adults and for children. Having
a live tree in the home is a radical solution
which, at least to some extent, forces the
family to adjust their lifestyle to nature.
In a home where nature is not observed
through glass but is at hand you quickly
learn to respect the cycle of nature and
can enter ino a dialogue with it. The house
was erected in an orchard by the forest on
a small six-are plot. The final decision where
to lay foundations was made by the children
who often played by the lone apple tree. The
composition of the building is completed by
a garden arranged in a free style that does
not overwhelm natural elements in the area.
The glazed atrium offers a magnificent view
of the surroundings.
It was important for me to create a house
using natural materials, often recycled and
definitely recyclable. That is why the materials used were mainly wood, old recycled
bricks, fireclay bricks from a dismantled
furnace in a nearby brick factory or stone
unused by a neighbour. The need to carefully select materials with at least some eco
traits is shown by the increasing popularity
of the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) method,
which focuses on materials lifecycle assessment. Anton Schneider of IBN v Neubeuern
listed 25 principles of healthy living which
I would like to refer to here. In the building
process it is vital to use natural and original
construction materials, without harmful
components, but with good air circulation
and ventilation, and the use of convective
heat. Energy consumption should be minimized, while the use of renewable sources of
energy is to be maximized, and construction
materials are to come from local sources.
Schneider pointed out the need to minimize
or stop using disappearing natural resources
or harmful substances. He advocates utilizing natural, minimally processed resources,
with minimal emissions of carbon dioxide
and sulfur dioxide. I believe that technical
solutions should complement the building’s
architecture and its harmony, rather than
the opposite, of which many architects seem
to forget today.
Photo: Courtesy of Atélier Van Jarin
Collaboration: Anna Maria Jarina
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