Gold house above Hvar: Unique penthouse with views of the Pakleni islands

by croatiaweek
January 13, 2021
in Business

(Photo credit: viskovic.viskovic.com)

Split architects Zrinka and Vatroslav Visković have created an impressive, carefully designed project

Designed by Split architects Zrinka and Vatroslav Visković, the unique gold penthouse on the Croatian island of Hvar will surely take everyone’s breath away when it is complete. The Viskovićs took three months to devise the concept with construction set to start later this year.

The house is located in the upper part of the city center, on a sloping terrain overlooking the Pakleni islands.

(Photo credit: viskovic.viskovic.com)

“Typologically, this is an unusual hybrid of the apartment building: the lower two floors represent apartments for the owner’s family and they overcome the slope of the terrain and create a plinth on which we place a separate element, almost like a sculpture. A golden penthouse: the peak of the composition. The penthouse owns its uniqueness: it rules over the landscape, over Hvar, over the view of the Pakleni islands, absorbs attention and reflects the environment. It is emphasized with a golden color which is – in our impression – the undertone of the Hvar atmosphere,” Zrinka tells us.

Hvar atmosphere inspiration (Photo credit: viskovic.viskovic.com)

The penthouse’s rooftop terrace features a pool, sun deck and outdoor lounge with bar.

“Here we try to evoke the feeling of being at the top of Hvar’s fortress: the feeling of being on the podium, with a view in the distance and the sky above your head, which makes it a true Hvar-like architecture.”

(Photo credit: viskovic.viskovic.com)

The penthouse also has separate access and functions as an isolated housing unit; almost like a house. In contrast to this openness, behind the house, there is a summer courtyard, a hidden outdoor living room.

The courtyard is hidden from view, neighbors, noise, and is open to the sky and morning light.

(Photo credit: viskovic.viskovic.com)

“The main motivation for this approach and reinterpretation of the (more) residential typology was to provoke the most unexpected sensations of a potential user (guest, tourist) and to provoke a change in reality and a different experience of Hvar. The architecture we proposed did not want to be just another house in the city, but an architecture piece that belongs to the place, to the city of Hvar, with its coloring and, more important with its spatial features,” Zrinka concludes.