Architectural competitions are not only for building. Many of them also provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and a space for design gymnastics, where the boldest concepts crystallize. On April 15 of this year, the results of one such competition were announced, entitled "The Home of Shadows ," in which designers were given the task of creating a home without lamps, sconces and chandeliers. In the international competition, in which teams from all over the world participated, Polish architect Dr. Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska won third place. Meet the Houses of Light and Shadows!
The task facing the contestants was seemingly simple - to design a house designed for two people, where functioning would be possible without access to artificial light sources. However, the architect did not stop there, setting additional challenges:
The competition challenge: to design a house without artificial light - triggered deeper reflection leading to the deliberate imposition of even more design restrictions. Instead of merely creating an aesthetic setting for the play of light and shadow, it sought to hint at something deeper: sunlight is not just an element of architecture, but our most important source of life, a force we must nurture. In an open landscape, where sunlight comes in freely and unhindered, a deep respect and love for natural light would undoubtedly lead to the submission of designing a glass house, pure in form, collecting the maximum amount of sunlight.
- Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska writes.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - mockup of the house
photo courtesy of the author
A house in the center of Lodz
Considering the multifaceted damage that single-family housing brings to society and the environment, the architect chose a location located in the center of the metropolis, on a plot of land that is not normally considered as a place where a residential structure could be built.
Denser development promotes more efficient use of resources, shared amenities and less environmental impact.
The aforementioned challenge, therefore, proved to be the space in which the competition concept was set. The House of Light and Shadows was designed on a narrow plot of land at 13 Wschodnia Street in Lodz - near Liberty Square, between a 19th-century tenement house and a three-story block of flats, squeezed between the courtyards of downtown rental houses. How did you manage to prepare a concept that caught the attention of the international jury in such a difficult terrain?
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - situation
photo courtesy of the author
The House of Light and the House of Shadows
The first challenge was a communication problem. Through almost the entire width of the plot chosen by the architect runs an access road, leading to a courtyard surrounded by buildings. In order not to disturb the traffic system, the House of Light was designed as a structure founded on high piles, stretched between the blind walls on the sides of the block and the tenement. In the front elevation, which took the form of a wall encompassing the height of both the pillars supporting the structure and the residential volume standing on them, a rectangular opening was carved out, allowing vehicles and pedestrians to access the courtyard.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - mockup of the house
photo provided courtesy of the author
Right next to the entrance gate was the front door, leading to the Home of Shadows - a staircase organized on the principle of an open-air architectural interior. Within it, in addition to the two flights of stairs, divided by a mezzanine in the form of a rectangular concrete slab, there was space for greenery in the form of several narrow-leafed olive trees.
The main block, suspended above ground level , called the House of Light, took the shape of a cuboid, to which three bay windows were added on the south side, "floating" above the staircase described above. The whole building was covered with a flat roof, which is accessed by an additional staircase on the north side, starting its course already at the residential level.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - floor plan
photo courtesy of the author
interiors full of light
Inside this relatively complex structure, a fully functional, highly differentiated space was created. As we read from the floor plan, the bulk of the house's space is a single-space interior, serving as a living room and kitchen with a dining area located in one of the bay windows. This part of the house also includes a toilet and space for a sculpture designed with this interior in mind. According to the architect, "the sculpture materializes under the supervision of Prof. Andrzej Boss from the W. Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz."
The private zone was located on the west side, by the front elevation of the building. In it space has been set aside for two rooms: a bedroom and an adjoining bathroom located in the volume of the bay window.
How to cope without lighting?
There wouldn't be too many extraordinary elements in the design of the House of Light, if not for the fact that it was squeezed between two blind walls. How did the architect manage to bring enough light into its interiors? Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska combined two approaches in her concept. The first, a spatial one, consisted of shaping the body of the house appropriately and equipping it with the maximum number of windows. These are located not only on the side of the front elevation and at the back of the house. The walls of the oriels suspended above the staircase were designed as almost entirely glazed, while adequate illumination of the northern part is ensured by...the balustrade of the stairs leading to the roof, which is made of material reflecting the sun's rays towards the interior.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - skylight system
mat. shared courtesy of the author
By using appropriate technical solutions, light also enters the interior through the roof. In such harsh lighting conditions, ordinary skylights were out of the question:
The skylight system draws inspiration from a 1994 prototype made by members of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California. It uses a combination of reflective, spectrally selective and diffusive films; the modified design adds a Fresnel lens and luxe prisms to directly catch sunlight and illuminate the ceiling throughout the day. There are telescopes in the living room and dining room. Their positioning is manually controlled, allowing the user to modulate the intensity of light in the space. In addition, a mechanism inspired by the camera's iris provides precise regulation of the light entering the space.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - skylight system
mat. shared courtesy of the author
In keeping with the competition's title, the Lodz concept also takes into account the play of shadow. This one occurs primarily in the space of the staircase, where three bay windows, a mezzanine suspended above the ground and olivine trees create compositions balancing between the domains of light and darkness.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - cross-section
photo courtesy of the author
a mosaic of contexts
The city where she grew up must have influenced the final version of the project, which earned the architect a place on the podium of the international competition:
I was born and raised in Lodz. Observing the stark contrasts in its dense, historic downtown: stately tenements with high ceilings and windows bathed in sunlight, and outbuildings tucked away in inner gloomy courtyards that remain in shadow, I picked up a most valuable lesson about light. The striking hierarchy of spaces conveyed an undeniable message - light is a luxury and has a cost. It defines architecture, influences the way people live and shapes their perception of their place in the world.
- Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska explains.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - A view of Joanna Rajkowska's installation "Passage of Roses".
mat. shared courtesy of the author
The architect operates with a multidimensional context in the case of the building's front facade. This one shimmers with hundreds of light rays, reflecting off the cut, mirrored fragments with which the facade was decorated. For those living in Lodz, this effect will immediately seem familiar - in a similar way Joanna Rajkowska in 2014 arranged the courtyard of a tenement on Piotrkowska Street, creating the famous Passage of Roses, dedicated to the artist's daughter, who was diagnosed with eye cancer after birth. In both of these projects, light plays a primary role.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - inspiration
photo courtesy of the author
The Passage of Roses was not the only artistic inspiration for the Home of Shadows project. In creating her concept, Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska also referred to an object from the field of applied art, in which rays of reflected light were taken to task:
The Magic of Everyday Life: a steel jug designed by Danish designer Henning Koppel. Its geometry makes the object sparkle with subtle, ethereal lines painted by sunlight on a white wall. It is an encounter between art and a simple law of physics: the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. As the sun or its reflection moves, the sculpture frames and displays abstract, ever-changing virtual images, transforming the perception of space.
- writes the winner of The Home of Shadows competition.
a stake worth the risk
Despite the fact that Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska 's research practice, conducted at the Technical University of Lodz, deals with the use of artificial intelligence in architectural design, in the case of her competition entry she relied on analog action for good reason. In a competition in which the core of the work was supposed to be a graphical solution to a problem, contrary to some assumptions of the rules, the architect decided to present the project primarily with the help of a mock-up:
Despite significant advances in technology, digital tools still have a hard time capturing the subtleties of natural light - especially realistic reflections. Working with a mock-up offers an undeniable advantage: it allows precise observation of how light moves, interacts with surfaces. With direct observation, design choices are based on tangible, real-world experience.
- explains the designer of the House of Shadows.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - mockup of the house
photo courtesy of the author
As she explains, the use of the mock-up was an expression of rebellion against the increasing role of digital technologies in architectural design. The shortlist for "The Home of Shadows" competition made this perfectly clear; except for the project by the Lodz-based architect, none of the 40 shortlisted works used a physical mock-up to present the concept. In addition, it was one of the few set not in a natural landscape, but in the center of a densely built-up city.
Anna Jaruga-Rozdolskaya's design for "The Home of Shadows" competition. - Lodz backyard
photo courtesy of the author
architectural choreography
Today, after the competition results were announced, it is safe to say that the risk paid off. The competition jury, consisting of Sarah Broadstock (Studio Bark), Sandra Baggerman (Trahan Architects), Thongchai Chansamak (Sher Maker), Ophélie Herranz (Nomos Architects), Patcharada Inplang (Sher Maker), Nikita Morell (Architects WordShop) and Blake T. Smith (BIG) summed up Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska's work, which won third place, in this way:
House of Light explores the relationship between sunlight and the experience of space through a composition of contrasting volumes. The upper level bathes in direct light, while the lower level, called the House of Shadows, remains set back and introspective. The design was organized to capture the movement of the sun, using elements such as slanted windows, thick walls and voids to modulate brightness and cast changing shadows. Light is treated as a narrative element - marking the passage of time, revealing surfaces and directing movement. The house shows the transition between light and darkness, using architectural form to choreograph sensory and temporal perception.
Congratulations to all the awardees, especially the third place winner, Anna Jaruga-Rozdolska!
