Anna Koukolová Architekti Splits a Weekend House in Krámy into Charred Spruce Volumes Beside a Garden Pond

Weekend houses in the Czech countryside carry a long cultural tradition. The chata and the chalupa are where generations have gone to slow down, tinker and sit by a stove. In the village of Krámy, part of the municipality of Nové Dvory near the Brdy Highlands, Anna Koukolová architekti, led by Anna Koukolová and Marcela Koukolová, has added a contemporary entry to that tradition. The house is a 123 m² timber retreat on a sloping plot bordered by a grove and a stream, completed in 2025.

What interests us is the restraint of the project. The architects did not make one sculptural object. They broke the program into a small cluster of dark volumes: a long living wing, an angled gabled bedroom wing and a garage. All of it is clad in charred spruce, and a board-marked concrete chimney holds it in place. The structural system is simple and the materials are plain, yet the floor area feels larger than it is. That outcome comes from layout decisions, and we think it deserves a closer look.

A Pond That Sets the Terms

The strongest images of the house are taken from across the water. A still garden pond sits below the glazed corner of the living volume, so the dark cladding and the pale concrete chimney appear twice, once in reality and once in reflection. The boulders and the timber deck that steps down to the water's edge are the transition from built to wild. The dog drinking at the edge is a good indicator of how the place is meant to be used.

The architects did not set the house on a lawn as an object to be admired. It reads as one element in a composed landscape of water, stone and trees. On a site that already has a stream and a grove, the pond is a deliberate addition. It gives the glazed corner something worth looking at in every season.

Charred Spruce and a Quiet Street Face

Charred spruce is becoming a common choice in Central European rural work, and it suits this site. Horizontal boards in deep black make the volumes recede against the tall stand of trees. The cladding wraps the gable ends without fuss. Standing seam metal fascias cap the walls with a thin, precise edge.

The openings show how the house balances privacy and outlook. The street-side entrance is guarded, with dark timber and concrete walls. Elsewhere the windows are carefully placed punctures: a large square on the gable, a tall slot holding two lit vases, a deep reveal that frames the neighbouring wing. The glazed entry door sits flush in the black skin, and concrete steps lead onto a wooden deck. The detailing is spare, but it is not careless.

Three Volumes Instead of One

At dusk you can read the composition clearly. A long, low living volume with a sloped roof stands beside a gabled wing, and a black timber outbuilding glows behind the lawn. Splitting the program this way keeps each mass modest in scale. It lets the house step with the slope, and it produces in-between spaces such as decks, thresholds and views from one wing to another that a single box would never offer.

The gabled form nods to the vernacular cottage without becoming pastiche. Seen in tall grass against the tree line, the pair reads less like a new house and more like a small farmstead that grew over time. For a weekend retreat in a village setting, that is the right instinct.

The Chimney and the Glass Corner

The board-marked concrete chimney is the one heavy element in a timber composition, and the architects make the most of it. Its twin black flue caps rise beside the glazed doors, and timber steps and a pebble bed gather at its base. It anchors the house both visually and functionally, since the fireplace inside is the social centre of the living room.

Across from it, the corner glazing does the opposite job. Black steel mullions and a thin metal fascia keep the frame minimal, so the glass reflects the trees and dissolves the corner. Pale dining chairs set out on the deck at dusk show that this corner works as an outdoor room as much as an indoor one.

Plywood, Logs and a Working Kitchen

Inside, the material palette changes register. Plywood lines the walls, and exposed log beams span the ceiling in a steady rhythm. The result is warm and legible, a direct expression of the simple structural system the architects describe. Nothing is boxed in or disguised, and that honesty is the main thing that makes the interior feel generous.

The kitchen sits between two dark counters, and the island has a stone top. The stone splashback runs up the plywood wall, and a linear pendant light hangs overhead. Looking through the full-height glazed wall from the kitchen, the deck and spring woodland feel like part of the room. Red stools, a striped rug and a black dining table add colour against the timber without competing with it.

Living at the Glass Edge

The living area keeps the same beams and plywood. A green velvet sofa faces a recessed fireplace, and the glazed wall opens to the trees. The arrangement gives you two focal points, fire and landscape, and the furniture sits between them. It is a familiar weekend-house setup, executed with discipline.

The glazed corner, with its rubber plant, ottoman and floor lamp, is where the 123 m² feels most expansive. With water and trees visible on two sides, the room's real boundary is the edge of the garden, not the glass.

Corridors, Bedroom and Bath

The circulation is where the careful layout pays off. A plywood-lined corridor runs beside a black-framed glass wall and ends in a white room lit by a skylight. A narrower passage hides storage behind flush cabinet doors with slim white pulls and a line of downlights. Storage takes up wall depth rather than floor area, which is how a small house stays uncluttered.

The private rooms are calmer. The bedroom sits under a pitched ceiling, and a square window frames the birch trees. In the bathroom, a dark stained vanity with a round basin and a freestanding oval tub against tall plaster walls with twin niches move the palette toward softness. The plastered surfaces offer a quiet break from the timber elsewhere.

Plans and Drawings

The drawings confirm what the photographs suggest. The site plan shows three roofed volumes clustered among tree canopies beside a curving road. In the floor plan, a long living volume with the fireplace sits next to a two-car garage, and the bedroom wing turns away at an angle. That small rotation opens views and creates the outdoor pockets between the wings.

The sections and elevations make the roof logic clear: a gable over the bedrooms, a single slope over the living space, and the chimney rising between them. Even in drawing form, the house reads as a set of simple parts, each with a clear role.

Why This Project Matters

Rural Czech weekend houses often fall into one of two traps. Some are nostalgic copies of the cottage; others are glass boxes that ignore their villages. Anna Koukolová architekti avoids both. The firm uses a small number of materials, charred spruce, board-marked concrete, plywood and timber beams, and arranges them in volumes that echo rural building forms while handling light and outlook in a contemporary way.

The broader lesson concerns size. At 123 m², the house is not large, and it does not try to look large. The perceived space comes from the split massing, the glazed corner facing the pond, the storage built into corridors and an exposed structure that never needs finishing over. For anyone designing a modest second home, this is a useful model: spend effort on layout and landscape, not on square metres.

Weekend House in Krámy by Anna Koukolová architekti (Anna Koukolová, Marcela Koukolová). Location: Krámy, Nové Dvory, Czechia. Area: 123 m². Year: 2025. Photography: Alex Shoots Buildings.

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