For some time now, we have been observing a trend, further conquered by the experience of the pandemic, which is associated with an increasing abandonment of the urban space in favor of idyllic trips near the city, to the countryside or further afield - towards regions famous for their picturesque landscapes, good cuisine and - most importantly - stunning architecture.
The fashion for locality, slowing down and experiencing the here and now, a return to what is natural and healthy or, so-called, slow life is a wide-ranging phenomenon, which is associated, for example, with the immensely popular Danish style of hygge or the slightly more culturally distant, but also popular in Europe, Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. As far as architecture is concerned, an absolute hit is the phenomenon of cabin porn, i.e. moving or building one's own houses or rather cottages, located on the sidelines, close to nature, realizing even the archetypal need to live in harmony with natural surroundings. The cabin porn phenomenon began as an online project, started by a group of friends who were building their own homes and looking for inspiration. As the collection of photos grew, the website attracted more and more cabin owners sharing their stories. The number of passionate visitors to the site has exceeded 10 million, and photographs of the huts and selected stories of their owners and owners have been published in book form.
View of the forester's lodge in Soltysy
Photo by Anna Jasinska and Grzegorz Krawczyk © Anna Jasinska and Grzegorz Krawczyk
slow life alternative
Also in Poland, building inspired by local architecture, as well as remodeling, expanding and revitalizing existing buildings is becoming more and more common. This is associated with both private investment and places for rent or agritourism. Help in searching for the latter is provided by the popular Slowhop portal, which advertises alternative offerings in the spirit of slow life, as one can find atmospheric guesthouses, unusual accommodations, unknown addresses or local slow food. Most of the offers are ideally profiled for current trends related to minimalism on the one hand, and slow eclecticism and mixing of such styles as boho, retromodern or modernrustic on the other. It happens that owners of places for rent in accordance with the spirit of slow life, give up promotion, advertising, a large number of guests in favor of the comfort and relaxation of people who have found the place themselves or return to it, as happens, for example, in the forester's lodge in Soltys.
A view of the forester's lodge in Soltysy with an old oak tree
Photo by Anna Jasinska and Grzegorz Krawczyk © Anna Jasinska and Grzegorz Krawczyk
fashionable destination
Warmia and Masuria are becoming an increasingly fashionable region, which are associated with forests and lakes, of course, but also with habitats blended into the landscape, houses by ponds, built of red brick, with gabled roofs covered with ceramic tiles and stone foundations. The popularity of locality in architecture is also related to financial issues, because the cost of building a house in each technology is comparable, and it should be added that the now typical facades with plaster already have to be renovated after a few years to regain their freshness. This does not apply, for example, to building with bricks and also the visual effect is incomparably better, as well as the one with wood. The latter is also sometimes recycled, so that old wood from an object is used to build a new one, as is the case, for example, in the Warmia cottage in the village of Rentyny, where the kitchen was made from planks coming from an old Masurian barn.
The forester's lodge in Soltysy from afar
Photo: Anna Jasinska and Grzegorz Krawczyk © Anna Jasinska and Grzegorz Krawczyk
making use of what is
The pandemic experience mentioned at the beginning is bound to make idyllic and idyllic places away from the city even more popular. However, it is worth noting in this context the essence of the idea of slow life - making use of what is already there instead of creating new places, really and ecologically supporting and enjoying localness instead of repeating fashionable trends or, finally, transferring the philosophy of tranquility and slowing down to everyday life - even if it takes place in the city.
