Cube in a cube

Cube in a cube is a family house in Dobříš, completed by boq architekti in 2019 as part of the Za Větrníkem Dobříš development. It sits among three semi-detached houses that formed the first stage of the scheme, with six units making up the basis of this growing part of the town.

The design reads as a simple cube wrapped in a hanging wooden construction. The plan is compact and practical, closing the house off where needed while opening it up to views across the surrounding landscape. On the ground floor, the entrance leads through a cloakroom, toilet and a guest room that doubles as a study, before arriving at an open living area with kitchen and dining space. Overhead rooflights bring daylight deep into the ground-floor hallway.

Upstairs, two rooms share a bathroom, and a separate parents' wing holds a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. The relationship between inside and out runs through the whole house: almost every room opens onto a terrace or balcony.

A defining element is a steel frame filled with timber that performs several jobs at once. It conceals nooks for storing garden tools, shades the interior, and forms a secondary outer layer, a barrier that gives the owners far more privacy.

Materials are kept simple: a brick structure finished in white plaster, the hanging steel construction, vertical timber elements and aluminium windows. The house has two storeys.

Architecture by boq architekti (Miroslav Stach, Jana Stachová). Photography by Alexandra Timpau.