Bosnian Cardaklia House: The Osmic Familyʹs House in Mala Brijesnica near Gračanica

The dispositions of the horizontal plans of the house are designed in such a way that the house can be divided both horizontally and vertically into more autonomous housing units, which is one of the specifics of the Bosnian chardaklia house. According to its spatial concept, construction, and materialization, and securing the cryptoclimate of space, the Osmic family house is an example of traditional bioclimatic architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Introduction
The archetype from which the bosnian chardaklia house evolved is the traditional solution of the bosnian house, which can still be seen in preserved houses on the mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whether in permanently populated villages or temporary settlements-katuns ( Figure 1 and  This house, in principle, has a ground floor developed through two tracts, with one tract on the ground (the "house" -"kuća") and the other above the basement. Most of these houses were built on hilly terrain, which was ideal for developing the (desired) plan in the vertical, basement and ground floor. The basement is arranged just below one ground floor tract. The bosnian chardaklia house has a characteristic volume of roof that is a kind of especially shaped fourstorey roof (Figure 2, right). http://www.id-press.eu/seejad/ The economic strength of the family, always accompanied by the greater number of its members, also required a larger area of the house. This demand led to the development of a horizontal and vertical plan of the bosnian house-archetype. Development in the horizontal plan is reflected in the addition of another, third, tract in the basics, while the development in the vertical plan is reflected in the addition of one or two floors above the ground floor ( Figure 3). Each of these types, locally or regionally, may have additional specifics such as: precise symmetry in the vertical plane of symmetry, asymmetry, doxate ejection of floors (one or two sides), doxate ejections of the entire floor.

Spatial and Design Characteristics of the Osmic Familyʹs House in Mala Brijesnica near Gracanica
The Osmic familyʹs house in Mala Brijesnica near Gracanica, according to the layout of their horizontal plans, belongs to the type of three-tracs Bosnian chardaklia house, which was developed vertically through the basement, ground floor and first floor ( Figure 4 and Figure 5). According to the layout and overall architectural physiognomy, the house has many similarities to the famous Mara Popovicʹs house in Gracanica. The basement of the house (home pantry, storeroom) is done just below one tract of the ground floor. The dispositions of the horizontal plans of the house are designed in such a way that the house can be divided both horizontally and vertically into more autonomous housing units. The basement of the house is developed just below one tract of its ground floor basement. Functionally, the basement (here called the storeroom -"magaza") is the main pantry where food is stored for a long period of time (potatoes, fresh fruits, cables with cheese, honey...). Because it is largely buried in the ground, with thick stone walls, the basement has stable temperatures, both in summer and winter ( Figure 4. and 6).   The central tract of the house is an open space, from the ground floor to the roof. It could be said (also from the perspective of modern understanding of the term "bioclimatic architecture") that this space is the "heart" of the spatial-functional concept of the house and its functioning as a bioclimatic building ( Figure 10 and Figure 11).  From the premises of the "house", on the ground floor level, it is accessed into three rooms, one of which is the "large room", with the most favorable orientation, which extends over the entire far tract of the base of the house (Figures 4, 12 and 13). In the other far tract are two rooms.  From the divanhana space it is accessed in two chardaks and on the gallery, which is on the ground floor-first floor level, at the edge of the middle tract, above the space of the "house" ("kuća") on the ground floor (Figure 15 and 16). This gallery is accessed on the opposite side of the house where, in the wall between the middle and one of the two end tracts, there is an entrance door for the third chardak.

Figure 16: Left and center -Small chardak with entrance from divanhana space; Right -A small chardak with a gallery entrance
Floor-level gallery is one of the most beautiful architectural solutions in this house, which is a sign of a high understanding of the value of space and its functional and aesthetic design (Figure 17, left). The basement contours are projected into the space by about 30 cm on all sides of the ground floor contour. This floor emphasis is common in northern and northeastern Bosnia and the Bosnian krajina. This solution has a number of advantages: it increases the usable floor area in relation to the usable floor area, the protruding floor protects the walls and openings of the ground floor from the harmful effects of the weather, the floor console has a shadow effect on part of the ground floor height... http://www.id-press.eu/seejad/ There are deep aesthetic reasons for the space outside the ground floor contour, since it is suggested to the observer from the outside that the "house is rich", that the house is a "white tower" ( Figure  5).
The roof of the house is a four-sides, mediumslope, with tile cover (which replaced the original shingle cover).

Construction and Materialization
In the construction and materialization of the Osmic familyʹs house in Mala Brijesnica near Gracanica, natural materials were used, in places and in a way that best corresponds with the properties of the materials.
The basement walls are made of stone (about 70 cm thick) with the use of loam mortar with the addition of chaff ( Figure 18). The walls of the ground floor and the first floor are made in a wooden bondruck system filled with elements made of clay with the addition of straw and chaff (named "ćerpič"), sun-dried, known as "bricks". The thickness of these walls is about 14-15 cm (Figure 18, right). The roof structure is made of wood, and the (original) roof cover is made of wooden boardsshingles. Over time, the shingle cover was replaced by a pressed ceramic tile cover ( Figure 19). The ceiling structure is made of wooden beams at a distance of about 80 cm, where the floor is made of thick wooden boards (5-7 cm tick). At a certain height of the ceiling beams, the ceiling was made of finely treated wooden boards ("šiše"), while the space between the floor and the ceiling was filled with clay charge with the addition of straw and chaff, which had the function of acoustic insulation (Figure 20). Ceiling boards were placed perpendicular to the beams or "fish bone" style, which was a more representative solution (Figure 21).  The level of artistic door-making, as well as the wood used to make them, corresponds to the representativeness of the space on which they are set (Figures 23, 24 and 25).  Window frames ("window boxes") follow the thickness of the walls. The windows on the sash windows were shredded, making the window appear larger than its actual size, and the window panes were safer than their eventual breakage. The house is mostly preserved original elements of openings that are almost 100 years old ( Figure 26).

Surface Treatment
The stone walls are basement in "natural" design, not plastered ( Figure 18). Both the exterior and interior wall surfaces of the ground and first floors are plastered with clay mortar with the addition of (in small quantities) sand and straw and chaff. These additives improved the properties of the mortar in a way that prevented it from cracking due to temperature dilations and made it porous, which made it permeable to water vapor, that is, allowing it to breathe space. The flooring in the rooms (ground floor) and chardak (first floor) is made of thicker wooden "floors" ("podnice"), while the floor in the living room area -"kuća" (ground floor) is made of compacted earth with the addition of horsehair, as an "reinforcement bar" (Figure 27, right). The basement floor is of compacted earth.

The Present Condition and Purpose of the House (Perspectives)
The physical structure of the Osmic familyʹs house in Mala Brijesnica near Gracanica is well preserved, with the preservation of the roof structure and cover being particularly important. The facility is not actively used but is carefully monitored and maintained. Given the nearly 100-year-old age of the facility, there are a large number of participating heirs. What is important at the moment is the awareness of these people about the value of this building (During his visit to this house (07/09/2016.) the author, after socializing with Mr. Hajrudin Osmic, one of the coowners of this facility, remained convinced that this facility was professionally and qualitatively restored in those elements of its physical structure that were devastated. In addition, the author remained convinced that they were closest) ( Figures 5, 16, 20, and 28).  " ("kuća")). It also served as a pantry ("huđera")

Bioclimatic Principles of Construction
The Osmic familyʹs house in Mala Brijesnica near Gracanica is an example of traditional bioclimatic architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The principles of bioclimatic architecture are reflected in the following:

1.
The building is located on a slope terrain with southern exposure,

2.
The basement is partly buried in the terrain, ensuring its storage function with a constant temperature (during all seasons), 3.
In all elements of construction, natural materials used were taken on site, with a place in the building that corresponds to their best features,

4.
Disposition of the building (horizontal and vertical plan) ensures the function of a central space with an open hearth as a space that provides natural ventilation of the object (good cryptoclimate) and protection of all elements of the object made of wood against the aggressive action of insects and moisture,

5.
The heating of individual rooms and chardakas is ensured by masonry stoves, using wood as firewood, whereby the smoke generated in them is discharged into a central area ("dimluk") which further warms the rooms to some extent ("heat recovery") and protects the wooden elements of the physical structure of the building,

6.
The spatial concept of the building allows it to be used as a single and two-family house (flexibility of architecture).