M House

M house represents in our office a norm in practice discipline across all building stages and the crucial necessity of a good relationship with the client. Its story begins with an existing house, part of a characteristic residential complex of the early 2000s in our country, situated on the border between Voluntari City and Baneasa airport, and came with a clear task: extending and adapting it to the new owner's needs.

A negotiation between existing and proposal was made without lingering: the old gave in for the new, given the fact that it was lacking any valuable architectural elements and it had windows predominantly facing north.

In what concerns the volume, the original building keeps its proportion but surrenders from its mass to terraces and green spaces – this becomes the leading gesture structuring everything after it, and turns the house-with-garden into the garden-with-house.

The facades reveal a continuous metallic profile following the slabs enforcing on a formal level the horizontality of the building and the new extension, embracing the last and becoming a coherent homogeneous whole, discarding the "before" image and leaving behind only the "now". The secondary volume's direction gains strength through its continuity reversing the above-beyond ratio with a pool.

Subordinate to green space also stands materiality, pretending a picturesque air: the wood and brick remind us of the fireplace gatherings, the vegetation promenades our thoughts through our grandparent's garden and the black metal brings us back to contemporary space.

The holistic approach of the proposal also determines an interior design direction in the same sphere, so that the large glazed surface from the first floor becomes a frail filter, it dissolves and allows the exterior and interior space to be perceived as an uninterrupted whole.

The particular positioning so near the airplane's runway implies a rigorous attention to technical details that transcribe into matte materials, windows with three layers of glass that together with thick walls have an increased noise resistance. 

Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Bricks, Vandersanden
2. Flooring: Diseño 
3. Windows: Reynaers Aluminium  
4. Roofing: Bauder / Joris Ide 
5. Interior lighting: Unilux International S.R.L.  
6. Interior furniture: S.C. Minuzzo Mobili S.R.L. / Noken

When the new owners bought this early-2000s private home near Bucharest, the building was hopelessly out of date. Noise pollution due to the nearby airport as well as lacking thermal insulation made for tough challenges. Luckily, local architectural company Fabrica de Arhitectura took over and created M House, a future-proof villa that features high-insulation Reynaers Aluminium sliding doors, windows, and curtain wall solutions.
 

Located in Voluntari, a Northern suburb of the Romanian capital, this contemporary villa breathes a picturesque air thanks to the combination of wood, brick, and the surrounding nature. But it is the black metal and glass featured in the façade that gives M House its trademark modern look. See how the interior design connects with the outdoors as expansive glass surfaces reach from floor to ceiling.
 

Daniel Popescu, Senior Architect and CEO of architectural firm Fabrica de Arhitectura, always aims to create intimate and sustainable homes. The same rule applies for M House: “We needed a solution for the exposed glass surfaces at the north side of the building,” says Popescu. “In order to reach a higher degree of insulation, we chose Reynaers Aluminium profiles to solve this problem.” As a result, M House now meets and beats passive-building insulation levels.
 

"We chose Reynaers Aluminium profiles to achieve passive-building insulation levels."- Daniel Popescu, Fabrica de Arhitectura

High insulation and dedication
M House’s design contains many clever features to improve its thermal insulation while battling noise disturbance caused by the nearby airport runway. When you stroll through the villa’s luscious garden, you count various Reynaers Aluminium solutions, all set in triple-glazed panes. For instance, MasterLine 8-High Insulation + (HI+) windows ensure ultimate peace of mind for all residents – and look beautiful while doing it.

Keeping out noise and the cold is one thing, but it is all for nothing if you block the light in the process. That is why M House features both glass corner and opening corner variants of our ConceptPatio 155-Lift & Slide (LS) system. Our local team of experts provided the architect with on-site support to pick these specific sliding solutions, which create wide panoramic sights without fixed elements blocking the view.

"Local Reynaers Aluminium experts offered the architect on-site support to choose the best sliding solutions for M House."

Architect Daniel Popescu has fond memories of our smooth collaboration: “We at Fabrica de Arhitectura try to surround ourselves with people full of soul, with lots of experience and dedication. And when you work together with experienced partners such as Reynaers Aluminium, the possibilities seem endless.” Trust between partners is the key to any successful project, and the Romanian M House confirms this once again.