On the southwestern slope of Królewski Wzgórze in Jaskowa Dolina Park in Gdansk, an estate of similar single-family houses was built in the 1920s. Over the years, the cohesive character of the development changed - the houses were rebuilt, expanded, renovated. Oliwer Rasztawicki and Marek Kruk of the Sopot-based studio Kruk Rasztawicki Architects, undertaking work on one of the single-family houses located in the neighborhood, decided to make a bold interpretation of the historic style.
The 
The house will be built near a 1920s single-family development
© Kruk Rasztawicki Architects
The idea, the architects write, is a response to contemporary architectural trends, while respecting the site's context and the value of the complex's historic buildings.
The architects recreated the simplified, original block of the single-family house, leaving the historic shell of the exterior white walls topped with attics on three sides. The proportions and layout of the window openings in the front elevation and the blends in the side walls follow the heights and divisions of the elevations of the historic buildings.
This frame is the sum of the characteristic features of the original buildings; selected features , framed in a minimalist form, the project's authors write.
scheme of shaping the massing
© Kruk Rasztawicki Architects
Into the white shell, the designers introduced a new monolithic brick block, clearly contrasting with the historic fabric. The simple rectangular-plan house is topped with a ceramic gabled roof consistent with the facade, cut by two dormers at the height of the side wall attics. The 200-square-meter brick body of the house is slightly extended beyond the boundaries of the historic shell, and its ceramic finish - merged with the terrace surrounding the block.
visualization of the house
© Kruk Rasztawicki Architects
The designers of the ZT house decided on a risky combination of modern fabric with a simplified, historical form. Such solutions have as many opponents as supporters. The modern interpretation of the historical style in the design by Kruk Rasztawicki Architekci refers to the context of the surrounding buildings, while clearly indicating which parts of the massing are newer, although made of traditional materials. As a result, the designers add, the designed building, thanks to its form and volume, fits in with the character of the existing surrounding buildings and landscape.
