Residential House in Kaunas by Architectural Bureau G. Natkevicius & Partners
Residential House in Kaunas sits on a 960 m² plot in Kaunas, Lithuania, where dense greenery shapes the experience of everyday life. Designed by Architectural Bureau G. Natkevicius & Partners, the house embeds itself in a sloping site to keep a low profile while opening broad views to the trees. The project reads as a modern volume tuned to its terrain, with material choices that age and weather alongside the landscape.
Low morning sun threads the branches and lands on textured concrete. From the approach, the house pulls back into the slope, its roofline tracing the grade with quiet intent.
This is a single-family house in Kaunas that works with its site rather than against it. Architectural Bureau G. Natkevicius & Partners organize a horizontal composition that embraces the terrain, using transparency and a restrained palette to keep the landscape in charge. Context guides every move.
Embed the Volume
The building steps into the sloping ground, breaking down mass through elevation shifts and concise geometry. Short retaining edges and calibrated cuts let the house read smaller, tempering its presence against the trees. One level glides into the next, and the roof follows suit with layered planes that settle into the hillside. Nothing stands proud without cause.
Concrete and Corten
Architectural concrete gives weight and clarity to the form, its texture catching light and shadow across the day. Corten steel introduces a time-worn counterpoint that reacts to seasons, warming in summer glare and deepening in winter damp. The pairing feels deliberate—matter-of-fact, durable, and expressive in small ways. Surfaces don’t shout; they register weather and time.
Frame Light Inside
Full-height glazing drops boundaries and brings the grove inside. Perforated skylights punch daylight to the deeper rooms, scattering a soft wash that shifts as the sun arcs overhead. Long sightlines run from living areas through glass and out to understory greens, making interior edges read provisional. Privacy and views balance through placement rather than gadgetry.
Courtyard as Anchor
A lawn courtyard concentrates openness at the center, acting as a bright clearing within the plan. Paths and rooms orbit this void, which stays unadorned so the terrain does the work (grass, sky, breeze). The move organizes daily life and tempers glare, drawing air and light into adjacent volumes. It’s the quiet heart of the house.
Horizontal Rhythm
Angular lines keep the composition taut without aggression. The silhouette holds steady and low, while thin edges and deep reveals set a measured cadence along the facades. Transparent stretches meet solid runs in a careful ratio, so rooms feel both grounded and open. The result is calm, legible, and attuned to the trees.
By late afternoon, rust-toned steel cools and the concrete takes on a silvery cast. The house recedes into the slope as interior light lifts through the skylights and glass. Not a landmark, but a steady presence, it reads as an exact response to ground, weather, and daily use.
Photography by Lukas Mykolaitis
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