Pandemic, remote work, smog... We are escaping the cities more and more willingly. We are building vacation homes, shelter homes that are supposed to let us be close to nature. But do we always build consciously? Modern Studio focuses on settlements, small houses where you can find your refuge, fitting into the landscape.
traveling to yourself
Nowadays, traveling has become problematic. Local holiday resorts and even hotels, if not closed, are not associated with a sense of security. City dwellers have craved - as strongly as ever - their own vacation homes. Working remotely is conducive to being out of town, and the enforced isolation from social life doesn't leave many options for relaxation. Plots of land and vacation homes are experiencing their "golden age." It turns out that the need to have one's own safe four walls and a "piece" of land, close to a forest or a lake, is stronger than ever, and there are more and more investors eager for cottages.
photo by Joanna Prokopowicz | Modern Studio Architecture
three lines sketch
In Szydłów, located near Opole, the first two cottages of 45 and 40 square meters have recently been erected, but the developer assumes that this is just the beginning. The settlement is to serve the function of rest houses, a place to relax and get closer to nature. The author of the project is Maciej Rempalski of Modern Studio of Architecture.
The first houses of the Cichosza settlement are dedicated to one family, but to two very different generations. Although the buildings are seemingly similar in form, they differ in the interiors and functions incorporated into them. The project originated from a single sketch. It turns out that the functions of the buildings could be described by three lines on paper. And it was these lines that determined the investors' decision to bet on this unusual settlement, rather than another "modern barn," a rash of which we have seen in recent years.
photo by Joanna Prokopowicz | Modern Studio Architektury
Architecture is a complement to the landscape and at the same time its complement, because once it is created it co-creates this landscape. The latter is especially important when we design in a pristine, completely non-urbanized place, as it was in this case - a house in a clearing in the middle of the forest," says project author Maciej Rempalski. - The settlement is precisely a new way of thinking about living outside the city. A better dimension of the former summer cottages, thanks to such scattered buildings, each resident has his own space. With the design of more modern barns, we have reached the limits of possibility and landscape moderation," adds the architect.
We've already seen barns of all sizes, miniature barns, brick barns, glass barns... Is it now time for settlements? Fortunately, these in their form offer many more possibilities, as Modern Studio proves. The lump is not forcefully described on the form of an existing, well-known scheme of simple utilitarian rural buildings, but can draw inspiration from the landscape.
Photo by Joanna Prokopowicz | Modern Studio of Architecture
inspirations
The inspiration for the design of Cichosz's cottages came from pulpits. And, of course, not in the context of cruel hunting. We were thinking about vantage points, places where you go up and have huge spaces in front of you," says the architect.
The designer points out how important it was to think of the settlement as a whole from the very beginning. Next to these two compositionally coherent cottages will stand another, also with wooden planes and different angles, where each notch and window, harmonizes with those of the neighboring buildings. The buildings are complemented by an interior terrace, which serves as a meeting place. The façade is finished in Scandinavian larch, whose rants have been tanned to further emphasize the linear layout of the facade. In addition to the form itself, contrasting materials: wood and fiber-cement panels add dynamism to the building.
Photo by Joanna Prokopowicz | Modern Studio of Architecture
As Maciej Rempalski says:
The building in its concept is to dress the surrounding space in frames. Each window is a different image, with a different shot, on different planes.
And this can be felt while being inside the cottages as well. It is the architecture that complements the landscape, not the other way around. The materials and colors that fill the rooms definitely play second fiddle to the views of nature from behind the windows. The interiors relate to the natural surroundings of the houses.
Photo by Joanna Prokopowicz | Modern Studio Architektury
According to the architect, modern barns have become the "disco polo of architecture." Alien bodies in a wild landscape, artificially elaborate, and forcefully simple in form. Is it nature-inspired settlements that are the best modern recipe for living outside the city?
