When planning to live in a single-family home, is it always necessary to opt for costly and environmentally damaging new construction? The secondary market is full of houses built before 1989, which, despite the passage of years, can still be an attractive alternative - especially if they undergo a modernization such as the one carried out in a Warsaw semi-detached house from the 1970s by the MFRMGR Architekci studio.
Polish suburbs (or city centers that used to be suburbs) are strewn with the architecture of semi-detached and single-family houses, often built in the now famous Polish cube type. Single-family housing of the communist era was an interesting phenomenon, growing out of the experience of pre-war modernism, run through the filter of the specific socioeconomic conditions that prevailed at the time. Today, after several decades, many of these houses are still habitable, but standards regarding the quality of workmanship or ways of designing interior spaces have changed significantly. The simple structure of these types of buildings makes them well suited for modernization - and a model example of this was offered by the MFRMGR studio, which modernized a 1970s semi-detached house in Warsaw.
Conversion of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
Sadyba garden city
The building undergoing modernization is located in Warsaw's Sadyba - a neighborhood that before the war was a model example of the application of the garden city idea. After 45 the interwar villas, formerly inhabited by Polish Army officers, gained a new neighborhood in the form of single-family houses and semi-detached houses, built by building cooperatives established for this purpose.
Reconstruction of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
In the first decades after the war, houses were built there using technologies whose use was forced by the lack of access to suitable building materials - waste from the veneer factory, unused materials from the construction site of the Palace of Culture and Science, or so-called tile slabs, i.e. sets of ceramic tiles filled with rubble from the terrazzo factory, were used. When access to bricks and precast concrete improved in the 1970s, more typical materials began to be used to build houses - it was from this period that the one-story semi-detached house, which became the subject of a modernization carried out by the MFRMGR studio, originated.
Modernization of a 1970s semi-detached house.
drawing: MFRMGR
list of changes
An important item on the list of modernization works had to become a proper diagnosis of the investors' needs - according to the designers, among the biggest problems of the fifty-year-old semi-detached house was the unfavorable functional layout of the rooms and the insufficient amount of usable space. A large role was played here by the staircase, which in the original layout was placed in the central point of the house.
Reconstruction of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
We made a significant reorganization of the interior layout, while preserving the existing ceiling heights. The original functional program, created decades ago, did not meet the modern needs of the family. The centrally located staircase limited access to light. It also hindered communication between living rooms and the kitchen. We also deepened the basement, while at the same time illuminating some rooms.
- explain the architects.
As a result, instead of one staircase, vertical communication takes place in two places in the semi-detached house in Sadyba - the first flight of stairs, located right next to the main entrance, allows access to the basement, while the second, offset into the depths of the building, allows householders to move between the first floor and the first floor. Relative to the original design, two square skylights appeared above the staircase, further brightening the house's interiors.
Reconstruction of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
How to enlarge a 1970s house?
It turned out to be a difficult task to enlarge the space on the first floor - the architects decided to expand the living room in the form of an overhanging extension, extending beyond the outline of the foundations. Thanks to this, the living room, located on the garden side, became not only more spacious, but also better illuminated, as the transformation of the rear elevation of the house made it possible to introduce large glazed windows, open to the greenery. The kitchen and corridor also gained additional space. In addition to these, the first floor level also includes a dining room and a dressing room.
Conversion of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
living room with terrace included
In line with the widely accepted practice of space design in single-family houses, the first floor houses the private zone:
On the +1 level we placed three bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower and bathtub, and a dressing room. The owners' bedroom has an exit to the terrace, partially located above the living room.
- write the designers.
It was the enlargement of the living room by an additional volume that made it possible to create a terrace in this form.
Conversion of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
afternoon in the basement
The lowest floor, which the architects decided to deepen a bit, also underwent quite a few changes. Here there is not only a garage, storage rooms and a laundry room, but also an additional room and a toilet, which increase the usable space of the building. However, the underground room does not have a "basement" atmosphere - MFRMGR Architects took care to provide an adequate source of daylight by making additional recesses for lighting, so that spending time in the room does not resemble being in an isolated space.
Conversion of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
as if nothing ever happened
The area where the 1970s semi-detached was modernized is under conservation protection - looking at contemporary maps, the urban features of the garden city that interwar Sadyba was supposed to be are still visible here. Unlike other pre-war neighborhoods planned in this way, the southern part of Sadyba is still dominated by single-family buildings, even despite the significant increase in development intensity in the area that occurred in the postwar period.
A converted semi-detached house from the 1970s.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
In view of this, the architects, after obtaining the necessary permits, created a design that , despite the introduction of significant modifications to the interior of the house, would not change the fundamental architectural expression of the building on the street side. The front elevation has been renovated, and the divisions of the four windows in the facade are identical to those of the other half of the semi-detached house.
Reconstruction of the 1970s semi-detached building.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
subtle change
The façade looking onto the garden was different - here an additional overhanging volume appeared, which was finished in a way that was aesthetically consistent with the rest of the house, while referring to the materials used to build houses in communist times. The exterior walls of the extension were clad in light concrete brick, which corresponds to the white plaster on the facades of both houses. The overall design is complemented by the precast architectural concrete detailing used in the extension and the recess that provides light to the room in the underground floor. Recessed into the ground, the concrete slabs create a well of light, after which ivy vines slowly begin to fall.
Redevelopment of a 1970s semi-detached house.
Photo: ONI Studio © MFRMGR
The construction process was greatly facilitated by the fact that designers were entrusted not only with the architecture, but also with the interiors. These, like the exterior facades, were finished with carefully selected materials. According to the architects, the floors were lined with oak staves and polished concrete, while the bathroom had room for marble tiles and quartz sinters.
maybe it's better not to build but to modernize?
The modernization carried out according to the design of the MFRMGR studio, like many other similar projects, shows that despite the passage of time, houses built decades ago can still be comfortable living spaces - all that is needed is a good concept and proper execution. If you are very keen on having your own house with a garden, it may be worthwhile to take an interest in already existing structures, which with a little work and ingenuity can be adapted to your needs without contributing to the development of exurbanization.