Architects:Entasis

Area :130 m²

Year :2021

Photographs :Anida Krečo

Manufacturers :  Artisan, Gazzda, Porcelanosa, Prograd, Zava LuceArtisan

Lead Architect :Vedina Babahmetović

Structural Engineer :Grading

Design Team : Armel Dautović, Dragan Trivičević, Berina Duranović

Lead Craftsman : Sifet

Carpenter : Mujo

Locksmith : Ibrahim

Painter : Emir

Courtyards Area : 110 m2

City : Puhovac

Country : Bosnia and Herzegovina

The house “Hiža Mišljenova” was built in the village of Puhovac, specific for its very connected community of a couple of families, but also for the old tombstone “Guest Mišljen” that was found there. The client himself is a publisher originally from Puhovac, who has been promoting Bosnian traditions for a while, but with Hiža Mišljenova he brings back the values of the old Bosnian house. The original idea was the reconstruction of an old small family house. Nevertheless, analyzing the situation, we realized that the house was in such a state that the building had to be demolished and a new one built in its place.

Analyzing the old Bosnian house, we came back to its basic principles from the “Bogumil” times - one room, a central fireplace, hipped roof. The house was being demolished parallel to the design process. It was discovered that the existing storeroom - “magaza”, could be retained because a very healthy stone was discovered under the plaster.

All the bricks from the walls, the so-called Austro-Hungarian ones, were preserved, but they were given the role of a facade cladding on the new building. Old oak ceiling beams, the fillings between the beams, as well as window and door lintels have been preserved. Typologically, the house remains in the same dimensions, and following the tradition of an old Bosnian house, it gets a male - front yard and a female - back yard. The men's courtyard is public, in front of the house. The woman´s one is intimate, private, and relaxing with water and floral scent. Both demolition and construction were done by local craftsmen, led by craftsman Sifet.

The storeroom “magaza”, taking up half of the total space, now becomes the entrance on the ground floor with a kitchen and exit to the women's courtyard. Internal stairs connect it to the upper level with a living room, a bedroom for the owners and a guest room. Neighbors are constantly monitoring the works and reporting “unforgivable” unequal height of the windows.

The four-pitched roof and the central fireplace are the roots of traditional houses in this area. We make it again, only without eaves. The principle of a central fireplace is also applied here with a stone fireplace on the ground floor and a brick one on the first floor as a reminiscence of the original materials from which the house was made. And the central chimney comes out right on top of the hipped roof. The roof is not closed from the inside but left as a gallery and a library.

The final works will probably last this whole year…or longer until they are finished. And they lasted also because Mujo the carpenter did all his detailing in wood. And how could he not, when he, who has spent a good part of his working life in America, working on the house of Elvis Presley, says: "This House must be better than Elvis' villa.” And so, detail by detail, without a hurry, the final works lasted for two years.

And we still lack grass in the yard and on the roof, the murmur of water in the women's courtyard, the smells of carnation and rose flowers and one cherry tree. Places are known. What we don't know yet is what that water will look like. Our sculptor Adis is working on it, a specialist in “Stećak” tombstones and “Bosančica” letters, and we can't wait to see the sketches. And for the water to flow.

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