Penthouse Sava. Penthouse Sava.

Penthouse Sava krovni je stan iznad zavoja rijeke, na posljednjoj etaži tihe zagrebačke zgrade. Zatekli smo prostor pregrađen u niz malih, mračnih soba okrenutih leđima onome najvrjednijem — dugom, niskom horizontu vode i neba. Cijeli zahvat krenuo je od jedne odluke: vratiti stan svjetlu i pogledu, a sve ostalo podrediti tom miru.

Penthouse Sava is a rooftop apartment above the bend of the river, on the top floor of a quiet Zagreb building. We found a space chopped into a series of small, dark rooms turned away from the most valuable thing of all — the long, low horizon of water and sky. The whole intervention began with a single decision: to give the apartment back its light and its view, and to subordinate everything else to that calm.

Srušili smo gotovo sve unutarnje zidove i na njihovo mjesto uveli klizne panele od hrastovih letvica. Otvoreni, oni dopuštaju da svjetlo putuje kroz cijelu etažu, od jutarnjeg sunca na istoku do zlatne svjetlosti koja navečer pada nad vodom; zatvoreni, mekano dijele spavaću zonu od dnevne, a da nikad ne presijeku pogled. Prostor tako nema fiksni tlocrt — mijenja se s danom, s godišnjim dobom i s ljudima koji u njemu žive.

We removed nearly every internal wall and replaced it with sliding panels of oak slats. Open, they let light travel across the entire floor, from the morning sun in the east to the golden light that falls over the water in the evening; closed, they softly separate the sleeping zone from the living one without ever cutting off the view. The space therefore has no fixed plan — it shifts with the day, the season and the people living in it.

Materijalnost smo držali namjerno suzdržanom i toplom. Pod i klizne stijene od bijeljenog hrasta, ručno glađen mikrocement na podu kupaonice i u kuhinjskoj zoni, mjedeni detalji koji s vremenom dobivaju patinu — kvake, rubovi polica, tanke profilacije oko ogledala. Kuhinja nije ugrađena u zid, nego stoji slobodno kao komad namještaja: monolitni otok od hrasta i mjedi koji se čita kao stol, a ne kao radna ploha. Tehnika je skrivena, ruka i pogled vode glavnu riječ.

We kept the materials deliberately restrained and warm. Floors and sliding screens in bleached oak, hand-troweled microcement in the bathroom and kitchen zone, brass details that gain a patina over time — handles, shelf edges, the slim profiles around the mirrors. The kitchen is not built into a wall but stands free as a piece of furniture: a monolithic island of oak and brass that reads as a table rather than a worktop. The machinery is hidden; the hand and the eye lead.

Najveći izazov bio je svjetlo u podne, kad sunce pada okomito i prijeti zasljepljivanjem. Riješili smo ga slojevito: vanjske tekstilne rolete od lanenog tkanja koje filtriraju, a ne zatamnjuju, i unutarnji raspored panela koji svjetlo odbija prema stropu umjesto u oči. Rezultat je stan koji u svako doba dana ostaje miran — krovna oaza odignuta od buke grada, ali čvrsto u njegovu srcu.

The greatest challenge was the midday light, when the sun falls vertically and threatens to dazzle. We solved it in layers: external linen-weave blinds that filter rather than darken, and an internal arrangement of panels that bounces light onto the ceiling instead of into the eyes. The result is an apartment that stays calm at every hour — a rooftop oasis lifted above the noise of the city, yet firmly at its heart.

„Tražili smo mir, a dobili smo dom koji se mijenja sa svjetlom. Svako jutro izgleda kao novi prostor — a uvijek je naš.”

"We were looking for calm, and we got a home that changes with the light. Every morning it looks like a new space — and it is always ours."

— Vlasnici, Penthouse Sava— Owners, Penthouse Sava