Great architecture is sometimes a small house. - With such words Przemo Lukasik justified in the verdict awarding the Grand Prix in the competition Best Architecture of the Silesian Voivodeship 2024 to an inconspicuous building in Mikolow. The house in the Jamna Valley was designed by architects from the ROBOTA studio.
In the charming valley of the Jamna River, a small river flowing on the northern outskirts of Mikolow, a realization was created that, although hidden, caught the attention of the jury of the competition indicating the best Silesian realizations. The house stood on a diamond-shaped plot of 800 square meters. It is a simple, two-story block in the form of a rectangular cube with a square base. The building is finished with slatted plaster, and the facades are interspersed with large rectangular windows. The slope of the flat roof was finished with Siberian wood, creating a terrace where homebuyers can relax in the treetops and admire the nature surrounding the house. The roof terrace is discreetly protected by a steel railing, and a similar detail precedes some of the window openings.
House in the Jamna Valley with Grand Prix Architecture of the Year of the Silesian Voivodeship 2024.
photo courtesy of ROBOTA studio
building in context
Although at first glance the Jamna Valley House may resemble the typical architecture of communist-era single-family homes, in fact its form and layout are not so much an inspiration as a derivative of the design process, in which several factors were taken into account:
It was not the goal for the house to refer to the archetype of the communist cube, in my opinion it is simply a single-family house on a square plan. I don't think it was also a goal for the house to be minimalist, it was primarily to meet certain assumptions based on the context and preferences of the future user.
- Jakub Korfanty of the ROBOTA studio writes for AiB.
The house in the Jamna Valley with the Grand Prix of the Architecture of the Year of the Silesian Voivodeship 2024 competition
photo courtesy of ROBOTA studio
house with a view of the valley
The preferences were primarily related to the surroundings. The house in the Jamna Valley was intended to make it possible to enjoy the precious landscape in which it was located, so both the spatial layout and the location of the window openings were subordinated to achieving the best possible views of the charming surroundings.
The surroundings are fields, forests and a horse farm, hence the decision to place the living area on the second floor and the terrace on the roof, views from the interior were a key factor in shaping the spatial layout.
- explains the architect.
House in the Jamna Valley with the Grand Prix of Architecture of the Year of the Silesian Voivodeship 2024.
photo courtesy of ROBOTA studio
children downstairs, parents upstairs
After taking these factors into account, an atypical layout was created, which is, so to speak, the opposite of typical spatial solutions in single-family homes. Entering a contemporary two-story house on the first floor, we expect a living room connected with a kitchen, accompanied by additional rooms with the number and functions depending on the specific project and the requirements placed on it.
House in the Jamna Valley with the Grand Prix of the Architecture of the Year of the Silesian Voivodeship 2024 competition.
photo courtesy of ROBOTA studio
In the case of the Jamna Valley House, finding themselves in the entrance area on the first floor, users can go in two directions - straight ahead, where children's rooms and utility rooms have been located along the corridor, and up a single-run steel staircase leading to the first floor. The second floor is the living area, where an open living room with a kitchenette, the parents' bedroom and a bathroom have been arranged. All rooms on the first floor have views of the surrounding landscape - an unconventional solution is the location of the bathtub in the parents' bedroom, who while taking a bath can admire the beauty of the area.
House in the Jamna Valley with the Grand Prix of the Architecture of the Year of the Silesian Voivodeship 2024 competition
photo courtesy of ROBOTA studio
a coherent and finished project
The house in the Jamna Valley is not fenced, and the vegetation on the plot where it occurs in natural form. There is no lawn around the house, but rather individual clumps of grasses, tall trees and bare, stony soil. Thanks to the use of light-colored kratzputz plaster, the building looks as if it is growing out of the ground, subtly blending with its surroundings.
As for the choice of materials, it played a key role, the exterior cement-lime plaster as a form of finish was specified at the very beginning, the single-layer wall was a natural continuation of the choice of exterior cladding. The project in my opinion is finished and coherent, the projection is its most essential part.
- explains Jakub Korfanty.
