Guna Villa

The narrow plot of Villa Guna lies on the edge of the Jurmala seaside resort near Riga. With its white facades and balanced, composed volumes, it is a conspicuous contrast to the surrounding pine forest.

In the design of the villa, the focus was on the spatial experience, with its main cues derived from the dialog with nature and the views across the wooded dune landscape towards the Baltic Sea. The villa has a u-shaped floor plan open towards the south, with the geometric center formed by an external space around which the building is arranged. The entire villa is set on split levels that are linked with each other via an arrangement of ramps as a central element.

The living rooms in the eastern part of the house open out to a terrace. The focal point of the two-story living room is a fireplace and chimney, the distinct shape of which can also be seen on the outside. In the north-western corner of the villa rises a tower-like viewing platform that completes the composition of the volumes in its spatial diversity.

Both the owner and the guests experience the architecture holistically as a composed sequence of spatial experiences that has been designed with a view to one’s perception when moving through the space. Both inside and out, the limits of built space and landscape dissolve in the interaction of these settings.