"Designing on a plot of land located in a forest setting offers fantastic opportunities, but it also poses quite a challenge to ensure that the building under construction does not disturb its forest character." - write architects from the Warsaw-based 89 Degrees studio. How did they handle this challenge in their latest project? In front of you a single-family house in Sekocin, sunk in the forest.
entry zone from the north
image: Piotr Banak © 89°
This is not the first project of the architects, in which the factor determining the shape of the block is the forest surrounding the plot. On the occasion of the presentation of a modern single-family house near Warsaw, inspired by the Swinoujscie style, they emphasized how important it is for them to create harmony between nature and architecture.
in architectural embrace
The same happened in this case as well. The architects deftly integrated the building between the existing trees, creating a body composed of two, offset parts, and where they could not avoid the trunks, they invited them inside, tenderly surrounding them with architectural frames.
axonometrics
© 89°
What was ostensibly a constraint became the inspiration for the designed architecture. The trees closest to the building were surrounded by overhanging elements, thus becoming an integral part of the house, the designers explain.
modern body, natural materials
The division of the body into two rectangular parts allowed a clear separation of the various functions and the creation of a clear entrance area to the north, and on the opposite side - a private terrace opening to the southeast. Each part is covered by a separate gabled roof with equal pitch and elongated slopes, which emphasizes the aforementioned division and adds variety to the shape of the modern body.
left: first floor plan; right: cross-section
© 89°
The layout of the house also translates into the design of the facade and the sense of privacy of the householders. On the northern facade visible from the road, we placed windows to illuminate the staircase, and on the garden side we provided large and varied glazing for the living room with dining room and upstairs bedroom, the architects add.
The 
terrace opens to the southeast
image: Piotr Banak © 89°
However, the inspiration of the environment did not end at the stage of shaping the body - in order to inscribe the building into the forest landscape, the architects used natural finishing materials on the facades. Thus, the base of the house is formed by split stone reaching the height of the parapet on the first floor, and the upper part of the exterior walls is clad with wooden planks in a vertical pattern.
