Architect Emese Bunyik imagined her family’s summer home as a giant bunkbed. The house once inhabited by dormice now display the ideas and work of three generations, from children to grandparents.
There is a certain nomadic charm to the Danube Bend: even if it is close to the capital, it still offers opportunity to recharge and escape the buzz of the city. Emese Bunyik and her family has been longing for a weekend home in the region for a long time, and when they eventually found this old, light-weight wooden house on the hillside, they were not even discouraged by the fact that the house had no electricity or water, but was full of dormice.
In the course of the renovation project, Emese kept the original overall dimensions, and by preserving the ambience and spirit of the house, she complemented it with a loft and some very much needed comfort. “Our family values the romance of building our own weekend houses, so we did most of the renovation ourselves. We only assigned the carpentry and tinsmith work to experts we know and trust“ – Emese explained about the renovation.
The wine-colored metal cladding adjusts to the environment and the seasons by taking different colors depending on the light. An additional advantage of the metal casing is the lack of cell service in the house, thus offering a perfect weekend getaway for relaxation and winding off.
The place has provided a nomadic experience from the beginning: we used a camp lamp as lighting, collected rainwater, the fridge ran on a gas cylinder and we cooked in the garden, on open fire.
We can step right into nature from the house, to the red hiking trail running nearby. The kids
have fun here without tablets, they wander around, collect things and explore nature. We rise and set with the sun and we always sleep well due to the charm of the place.tells Emese about their time spent in the house.
The biggest part of the house is formed by a large space for common use, and even though the different functions are not separated (except for the bathroom), it is still possible to separate from the others. “The entire space is as if it were a giant bunk bed. It is centered around a four-person bed, in the bottom of which we store the majority of our stuff, from clothes to bedsheets to the vacuum cleaner. The bed is confined by windows from three sides, from where we have a good view of the iconic turkey oak of the garden, and we can even see the Castle of Visegrád from the terrace, through the oak. Upstairs we created a play space with a play rug and a reading hammock for the kids above the giant bed” – describes Emese the interior.
We also got to learn that the entire family took part in the construction works indeed: Emese’s mother was in charge of carpeting, his mechanical engineer father created the staircase, and the designer’s sister was in charge of organizing the works. They also involved the smallest family members in the renovation: the kids took part in sanding and decoration.
We continue to use the weekend house in an eco-conscious manner also after the reconstruction. We continue to collect rainwater in a tank, we use little electricity, we compost kitchen waste and don’t pile things in the house. At the evenings we read, talk, play boardgames and
recharge ourselves with calmness.
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