An architect’s own home is often where ideas get tested hardest. In Prague, Jan Jakub Tesař of Stempel & Tesar architekti turned a difficult, long-empty plot into a three-bedroom family house without a single hallway, a clear example of a minimal maximum house.
A constrained site
The plot measures 240 square metres. For years it lay vacant on a slope between apartment buildings and villas, and it held three rusting garages. A railway line runs close by, and a protected mature cherry tree stands on the site.
Those conditions kept commercial developers away. For Tesař, who joined the practice with his former teacher Ján Stempel in 2008, the plot offered something else: a chance to build for his own family. “The plot shaped it, ambition motivated it, and responsibility refined it,” he says.
Building up, not out
Light rights for neighbouring properties determined the shape and setback of the house. The frontage follows the existing street line, and a garden sits at the rear. Within those limits, the team built upward on a floor plate of about 70 square metres, shaping a minimal maximum house that makes the most of every square metre.
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Sources differ on the total floor area. The architects describe around 100 square metres of accommodation, while whiteMAD reports a 110 square metre house. Both describe three bedrooms spread across staggered levels.
A dining room at the heart of the minimal maximum house
The house has no corridors. Instead, rooms sit at different heights and connect through a winding steel staircase with a series of half landings. Each room opens from a landing, so the staircase does the work a hallway would normally do.
The dining room is the focal point. It rises 4.2 metres, spans three storeys and receives daylight from three sides. Tesař calls the house “a personal manifesto” built on more than two decades of designing homes for others. Its most important room is also its most open.
A sunken living area sits on the lower ground floor, set into the hillside and stepping down from the entrance level. Its angled plan includes built-in seating and a bookcase. Lowering this part of the house also keeps the street-facing height down.
Concrete and walnut
The partly underground levels dictated a reinforced concrete structure, a common choice in residential architecture on sloping sites. The walls and ceilings stay exposed, and the marks of the formwork remain visible throughout the interior. Tesař and his team designed built-in furniture to organise the rooms and keep the walls clean.
Walnut from a single tree appears in the cabinetry, sliding doors and steps, and in the kitchen and living room. The kitchen uses walnut cabinets with a dark Nero Zimbabwe stone countertop. The bedrooms take a quieter route, with white lacquered cabinetry against the raw concrete.
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A white exterior that opens to the garden
The facade is clad in vertically ribbed, white profiled aluminium sheeting. The same material covers the gate and sections of the fence. The ribs add a subtle texture, and the uniform finish makes the varying building heights read as one composition.
On the garden side, a large sliding glass panel opens the dining room almost completely in warm weather. The wall seems to disappear, and the room extends into the greenery.
Energy systems and detailing
The house uses triple-glazed windows, high levels of insulation and underfloor heating powered by an air-to-water heat pump. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery supports the system. A photovoltaic array on the roof covers part of the household’s daily energy needs, a practical touch for a minimal maximum house.
Rainwater collected on site irrigates the garden and the green roof.
The team even designed a custom front door handle. Tesař describes the house’s “precise and functional geometry” as serving “an artistic statement” in its own right. The result shows how a tight plot, a strict set of rules and a single architect’s family needs can produce a minimal maximum house with no wasted space.
Via wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
Why is the Prague house described as having no hallway?
The house has no corridors; instead, rooms sit at different heights and connect through a winding steel staircase with half landings. Each room opens from a landing, so the staircase does the work a hallway would normally do.
What were the main constraints on the Prague plot?
The 240-square-metre plot had long been vacant on a slope and held three rusting garages. A railway line runs close by, and a protected mature cherry tree stands on the site.
What material covers the house’s exterior?
The facade is clad in vertically ribbed, white profiled aluminium sheeting. The same material covers the gate and sections of the fence.
How is the house heated and powered?
The house uses triple-glazed windows, high insulation levels and underfloor heating powered by an air-to-water heat pump, with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. A photovoltaic array on the roof covers part of the household’s daily energy needs.
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