The house "Emil" is a project that you can choose from the catalog. Its functionality and simplicity appealed to many customers. But what if it could undergo a metamorphosis? Agnieszka Brzostek of the AB Concept Design studio and Wojciech Gawinowski of Vostok Design proved that a house based on a catalog design can be turned into a modern building.
In this way, a house with interesting and contemporary aesthetics was created, while maintaining its economic character. The designers wanted to interfere as little as possible with the original form of the building. It was to remain legible.
Shingle facade
Jan Karpiel-Bułecka of Karpiel Steindel Architekci was responsible for the facade design. It was cleared of unnecessary elements and covered with larch wood shingles. The front dormer window was changed to a large triangular glazing, letting light into the upstairs rooms.
The porkyard facade is shingled, while the first floor is dominated by concrete
Photo: Paweł Ulatowski
© AB Concept Design, Vostok Design, Karpiel Steindel Architecture
Open, bright plan
The original interior of the catalog house, divided by walls, was losing space. To achieve an open plan, all the walls of the first floor were removed. They were replaced with black-painted steel beams, supported by reinforced concrete columns supporting the structure.
The cool color scheme of the first floor
© AB Concept Design, Vostok Design, Karpiel Steindel Architecture
A misalliance of design and folk art
The interiors of the house have been divided. The first floor is cool and modern with a predominance of concrete, white and gray. The color scheme serves to display paintings and fine art. The first floor, on the other hand, is warm and cozy, made mostly of spruce wood in the Zakopane style. This mésalliance of sophisticated design with folk art is connected by a "levitating" staircase. In the reimagined Emil, space has appeared for a sauna, a bicycle room, a guest room, a gym and a study.
The window of the front dormer was changed to a large triangular glazing
© AB Concept Design, Vostok Design, Karpiel Steindel Architecture
Highland ornamentation
Thedecoration of the first floor, where the private area is located, is mainly spruce wood finishes and exposed elements of the roof structure. The details - griffins, spur patterns, chamfers and decorated door and window frames - were taken directly from the Highlander ornamentation found in, among others, Villa Oksza in Zakopane. Wood was juxtaposed with black floors, breaking the uniform color scheme of the interiors. The whole is complemented by a bathroom made of stone granite slabs, which brings to mind a mountain cave.
A glazed winter garden was created at the back of the domou
© AB Concept Design, Vostok Design, Karpiel Steindel Architecture
At the back of the house on the garden side, where the most beautiful view of the Kluczwody Valley can be enjoyed, a year-round glass garden was created in place of a small terrace . This is the only proposed extension.
