Smart Casual: Exploring Latvia’s Nature-Inspired Private House
Explore Smart Casual, a private house by Labs Dizains in Cēsis, Latvia, envisioned in 2023. This modern home seamlessly blends nature with innovative architecture and interior design. With three levels following the terrain’s contours and large windows inviting sunlight, the design emphasizes open spaces and natural materials. The heart of the house, a cozy fireplace, connects kitchen, living areas, and an outdoor hot tub, creating a perfect harmony between indoor comfort and the beauty of the Gauja valley.
About Smart Casual
Embracing Nature in Every Corner
At the heart of Cēsis, Latvia, the Smart Casual project by Labs Dizains redefines living spaces. Designed in 2023, this private house holds nature, innovation, and harmony as its pillars. Spread over three levels, it adapts to the Gauja valley’s landscape, ensuring every room has a distinct connection with the outdoors. The central fireplace ties the kitchen, living room, and an inviting terrace together, promoting a communal living experience while maintaining privacy in the two bedrooms, each with its en-suite bathroom.
Seamless Interior Design Meets Functional Layout
Labs Dizains goes beyond traditional interior design, creating a space where architecture and nature coalesce. Large sash windows without curtains allow uninterrupted views and sunlight, blurring the lines between inside and out. Transparency is a key theme, seen in the kitchen island’s openwork lattice design, seemingly levitating above the floor, embodying the house’s airy essence. Furniture reaches maximum height, preserving the ceiling’s clean lines and integrating naturally with the Baltic-sourced finishing materials.
Sustainable Materials and Subtle Elegance
The house features eco-friendly lime plaster from Italy on walls and ceilings, achieving a seamless effect without visible seams. This choice enhances the uniform horizon line, despite the non-standard geometric structure of the building, including varying floor levels and sloping ceilings. The kitchen island and customized storage solutions were designed early, anticipating the future needs of a family while perfectly serving the current occupant’s dynamic lifestyle.
The integration of natural tones across the interior—browns, greys, muted greens, and black accents—alongside the lack of curtains, complements the seasonal landscape. Advanced wireless lighting controls offer a personalized ambiance, highlighting the sophisticated yet functional furniture designed to “levitate,” enhancing the space’s fluidity.
A Living Breath of Sustainability and Privacy
Innovation extends to the building’s architecture, shaped by the land and preserving every tree and shrub during landscaping. The Smart Casual home exemplifies a passive house, featuring solar panels, a heat pump, and an efficient heat recovery ventilation system, mirroring the project’s commitment to sustainability. Outdoor blinds, cleverly concealed within the facade, ensure privacy, prioritizing minimalism and environmental integration. This project is a testament to Labs Dizains’ vision of creating a space where design meets nature, offering a timeless living experience.
Photography courtesy of Labs Dizains
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