Article taken from A&B issue 7-8|23
Beauty, goodness, sustainability — are these values still relevant? What are the biggest design challenges for single-family home architecture today?
The globalization of architecture and dispersed suburban development are just some of the primary challenges we face when designing individual homes. It is difficult to find a structured design context in an increasingly diverse landscape littered with architectural artifacts. The loss of local architectural features, the mixing of styles and forms, is common. We have an exceptional dispersion of buildings. Villages and towns stretch endlessly, one merging with another. In addition, on the outskirts of the cities, strange urban forms are appearing — swank developments — creating nightmarish, antisocial living spaces.
House on a slope| proj.: HORIZONE Studio
photo: Piotr Piatek © HORIZONE Studio
Due to the increasingly fast pace of life, we are all looking for peace and quiet and a moment of respite. It used to be the easiest way to leave the city. Relaxation came on its own in the mountains, by the sea, in desolate valleys, on the banks of rivers or lakes. We could enjoy the undisturbed landscape. Today everything has changed, the world in Poland has gone crazy, everything and everywhere is being built. Everyone wants to seize a little landscape for themselves, if only by having a „view” with which to justify everything. I have met with cases of valleys that have always been open to tourists, and at some point, after a change of ownership, they were closed. We know of cases of building castles (!) on the shores of a lake in the middle of a primeval forest (in the 21st century!) and large scaled hotels on the coast with total ignorance of the surrounding landscape. We are killed by selfishness and individualism, directing attention to ourselves, while it should be exactly the opposite. Lack of sensitivity and thinking about how my investment will affect the surrounding landscape.
In nearby Sweden, there is an „Allemansrätten” law that applies to everyone, saying that the landscape and nature is a common good, should be cared for collectively and access to it should not be restricted. A good example of caring for the landscape are our southern neighbors, the Slovaks and Czechs, who have long since done this homework. The effect can be seen as soon as you cross the border. Thanks to consistent maintenance of the adopted urban planning principles, they have managed to maintain a visible spatial order. It is most clear in small towns and rural developments. This consistency and awareness I greatly envy them. Unfortunately, Poland has not managed to control it. Instead of taking a good example from our neighbors, we have our own patent on it, which on average works, and its effects can be seen everywhere. The attractiveness of plots of land is determined by their distance from the next one. There is often a belief that the farther away the better, while it should be the other way around. All the economic, ecological and social arguments are in favor of doing things differently, but unfortunately we are learning very slowly. We still have a misconception of civil liberty and property rights, which many people think ends at the threshold of their house or at the border of a plot of land. What happens beyond the borders is no longer a problem for us, we have left this zone unchecked.
House on a slope| proj.: HORIZONE Studio
photo: Piotr Piatek © HORIZONE Studio
Sometimes we have the impression that it is the architects in duo with the investor who are the brakes, we often curb the appetites of our clients, we try to convince them that over-scaled objects, without deep justification, will not work. Here the most important things should be tradition and basic human needs, ergonomics and functionality, the ability to capture the human scale. Once these basic criteria are set for ourselves, getting a better or worse form is easy. Form and shape used to be a result of climate zone, local conditions, availability of materials and skill of builders. In the era of globalization, everything has mixed, regional characteristics have disappeared. Technology provides new opportunities, energy issues, speed of construction, maintenance costs, availability of utilities or infrastructure have become more important. We are trying to find our way in the ever-changing realities. We understand the frequent confusion of investors who are from outside the industry and want something similar to a house seen on a vacation trip or on an online forum. Sometimes their dreams are realizable, but sometimes they need to be gently guided and convinced that it won't work. Our role is to design buildings tailored to the investor 's needs and to help realize them. We are happy when after some time we hear that it was the best possible investment, they live well, the solutions adopted work, and if they were to repeat it, only with us.
House on a slope| design: HORIZONE Studio
photo: Piotr Piatek © HORIZONE Studio
The presented house, which was built near Krakow, is an attempt to fit into the surrounding context; here we had a comfortable situation and a hectare plot at our disposal. The only difficulty was the large slope of the land, about 10 meters, with a flattening where the house was founded. Initially it was to be a weekend house of roughly 120 square meters, which grew twice during the design process. The house is single-storey, embedded — embedded in the slope. The ground floor section has an alternative entrance to the building, all the technical rooms, a pantry, a laundry room and a small entrance hall with an elevator. A single flight staircase leads to the living area, separated into a night area with three bedrooms and a bathroom with a dressing room, and a living area. The living area consists of a room — a living room connected by a corridor to the kitchen and dining room. The corridor is also the main entrance lobby to the house. The idea behind the layout of the building is the use of view axes, the play of light and shadow, the variation of character throughout the day. The main view exposure towards the north provides a distant view. The eastern and western exposure of the building's edge rooms is limited by perforated steel louvers. Their interesting pattern causes an animation of light and shadow in the interiors. From the south there is only one window from the bedroom, which by its framing provides light and thermal comfort. The dining room is located in the easternmost wing, surrounded by glazing on three sides, giving a sense of floating and a panoramic view. With sliding glass door wings, we can functionally connect the two living areas. The structure of the building is hybrid, the basement is a concrete box to stabilize the foundation of the building, and the living area together with the roof is a steel frame filled with ceramic blocks. The facade is made of local bridgeline stone, and the roof is green with the Optigrün system, which changes its colors according to the seasons to match the surroundings. Schüco window frames with selective glazing cause stronger reflection, reflecting the surroundings. The window frames and blinds, as well as the entire entry area, are made of perforated corten panels with a cut-out pattern. The whole is surrounded by a beautiful garden with various functional zones.
