Project Overview
In the small Karst village of Škofi stands a house unlike any other — a residence that has, for over two decades, doubled as a work of art in progress. Since 2003, it has been home to the artist Matej Andraž Vogrinčič, renowned for his poetic façade interventions that famously “dressed” houses with second-hand clothes. What he purchased was not only an old estate, but also the possibility of continuous transformation. Rather than complete the house in one sweep, he has allowed it to evolve slowly, shaped by the rhythms of daily life — conversations over coffee, pauses between exhibitions, journeys abroad, and the unpredictable arrival of new resources. Each intervention, whether small or large, becomes another layer in a story that has now stretched across twenty-two years and still continues.
Design Concept
At the heart of the project lies the principle of accumulation as creation. Unlike traditional renovations, this house does not seek finality or closure. Instead, it thrives in a state of becoming. A room is adapted when needed, a piece of furniture is introduced when discovered, a wall is altered when opportunity allows. Objects found in flea markets, gifted by friends, or recovered from past installations find their way into the interior, blurring the boundaries between art, memory, and everyday life. The house has become a kind of architectural diary, recording the improvisations, accidents, and choices of its owner. Incompleteness is not a flaw, but a philosophy — a recognition that life itself is unfinished, always layered, always open to change.
Spatial Experience
The atmosphere inside is intimate and tactile. Rooms vary in character: some are polished, others intentionally raw, left in the state they were found or only lightly adjusted. Furniture and fittings are eclectic, ranging from reclaimed antiques to playful, makeshift assemblages. The result is a patchwork interior, where each space tells its own story yet remains part of a larger whole. Moving through the house is like turning pages in a book — an unfolding sequence of fragments that together form a narrative of two decades of inhabitation. For visitors, the impression is not of a finished architectural statement but of a house alive with process, deeply personal and yet open to collective imagination.
The Dressed Balcony
One of the most striking architectural gestures is the reinterpretation of the traditional Karst “gank” — a narrow wooden balcony that typically ran along the upper façade of rural houses. In the new plan concept it has been transformed into a glazed, light-filled corridor that binds the upper level together. No longer simply an external walkway, the balcony becomes an inside–outside threshold, a transparent connector that allows fluid movement between rooms while maintaining a visual relationship with the courtyard. In spirit, it is also a playful continuation of the artist’s practice of “dressing” façades — here, not with clothes but with glass, turning a historic feature into a luminous layer that mediates between tradition and reinvention.
Community & Collaboration
The Never-Ending House is also a collective effort. Though guided by sensitive dialogues, unfolded through collaboration with architects, craftsmen, friends, and family. Many decisions were spontaneous, made in the course of conversation or while sharing coffee in the courtyard. In this way, the project reflects the culture of Karst villages themselves, where building and adapting houses was always a communal practice, shaped by necessity, skill-sharing, and improvisation. The house has thus become a gathering point not only for its owner, but for a wider circle of collaborators who contribute to its ongoing transformation.
Economic Sustainability
The rhythm of construction is also a rhythm of economy. Instead of a major investment, the project unfolds through budget-conscious creativity: small interventions funded when resources allow, furniture acquired second-hand or salvaged, and building elements reused or adapted. This gradual approach has extended the project over decades, but it has also minimized waste, reduced costs, and given each addition a story. Every new step carries the memory of when, why, and how it was made. In this sense, the house is not only sustainable in material terms, but also in emotional and cultural terms — a slow architecture that values longevity, adaptation, and restraint.
Vision for the Future
The Never-Ending House is deliberately unfinished. Its future is not tied to completion, but to continuation. Each new intervention is less an act of renovation than a conversation between past and present, art and life, permanence and change. In this way, the house stands as an alternative model of revitalization: not a singular project with an end date, but a process that unfolds across decades, guided by necessity, imagination, and affection. Like Vogrinčič’s installations, which animate ordinary objects with extraordinary meaning, the house itself becomes an installation on the scale of a lifetime. It proves that architecture does not need to end to be meaningful — it can remain open, evolving, and alive.
Team:
Project team: Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik, Matej Andraž Vogrinčič
Client: Matej Andraž Vogrinčič
Contractors: Artist in collaboration with Local craftmen
Photographer: Janez Martincic
