House in Latvia

House in Latvia

Project ILL is a private house with an area of 125 square meters designed by the architecture bureau INT2Architecture. The picturesque plot borders a forest and is located in Tsarnyava, Latvia, just 30 kilometers from Riga and close to the Riga Bay.

The house is functionally divided into two parts: the main and guest zones. The connection between these zones is provided by a covered passage through the building, visually linking the courtyard with the forest. A small porch and mini-terrace are built on the guest side for storing firewood for the wood-burning stove in the living room. A garden shower is located on the terrace.

For external finishing and terrace covering, Latvian barn boards treated with a hydrophobic composition were used. The roof and house facade are finished with steel corrugated panels in anthracite color. For interior finishing, Latvian birch plywood, boards of coniferous species for flooring, mosaic, and ceramic granite were used.

The interior of the house is minimalist. Simple finishing, lack of flashy details and decor, eco-friendly materials emphasizing the connection between the forest and interior—these are the key elements of this project's concept.

The main space of the house is a kitchen-living room with a five-meter-high ceiling at the ridge and a dark plywood “box” where the main technical rooms are concentrated (laundry-boiler room, guest bathroom, hallway). In other rooms, the ceiling is lowered to accommodate building engineering equipment including HVAC and ventilation systems. A spacious guest bathroom with a small sauna and shower cabin adjoins the guest bedroom.