"Villa in Two Pavilions," designed by the Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office, refers to the modernist traditions of the region, fits into the forest surroundings and was built using local materials.
"Villa in Two Pavilions" is an interesting example of a house that refers to the native traditions of modernism associated with the Central Industrial District. The building is composed of two pavilions, which allow for a visible separation of function and living space.
Dr. Rafal Barycz, architect, co-founder of the Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office and also an academic lecturer, talks about the idea of design, combining diverse threads in architecture on the example of "Villa in Two Pavilions."
Wiktor Bochenek: How was the body of the "Villa in Two Pavilions" composed? How was the batten connecting the two pavilions carried out?
Dr. Rafał Barycz (Barycz and Saramowicz Architectural Office): The innovation of the "Villa in Two Pavilions" lies in styling it in the form of two parallel pavilions, connected by a connecting batten, each of which has been assigned a separate function. They create a new quality of spatial relations in a single-family house.
In the ground-floor, front part of the villa a single-space living area was located. It is formed by a linear sequence of a living room with a separate fireplace annex, a dining room and an open kitchen, from which one passes to a pantry and further descends to a small wine cellar. Thanks to overlapping screens of glass, the exterior space freely penetrates into the interior. This effect is enhanced by the way the building 's masses are formed in the shape of a double pavilion, causing the exterior and interior spaces to mix, producing new interesting qualities for the occupants. Due to the profession of the hosts, a study with a library was located around the entrance. The living rooms are accompanied by the necessary economic, technical and back-of-house spaces. Further on, one moves to a two-car garage, with sports equipment storage and technical rooms next to it, with covered parking spaces adjacent to the exterior.
The immediate surroundings of the forest have influenced the mass of the building
© Barycz and Saramovich
Through the connecting passage we will go to the parallel pavilion, which is two-story. Its first floor houses the main private zone of the owners, built with a double bedroom, an open dressing room and a bath room. A direct exit to the garden was thought of here. In the recreation zone we have a fitness room with a locker room, washroom and sauna, and further on a swimming pool. Adjacent to the swimming pool is a leisure annex, in addition, a covered rest area was designed at its front over an open pond.
An architectural staircase, located in an archway, leads to the first floor. Here there are private rooms, two of which, with a shared bathroom, are designed for children, and the third is shaped like an autonomous living studio, conceived for guests or as a servant's quarters. In addition, a technical room with a recuperator for operating the mechanical ventilation system of the pool hall has been placed here. The pavilion-like layout of the building allowed the creation of innovative spatial relationships in the family home.
Wiktor Bochenek: You refer to modernist traditions combined with traditional elements. How was this combined in "Villa in Two Pavilions"?
Rafał Barycz: The residential house was built in Mielec, Subcarpathia, in the Wiesiołowskiego Street area. It is a quiet suburb, largely forested, with numerous charming groves of mostly birch trees. Mielec at the end of the Second Polish Republic became the nucleus of the Central Industrial District. A lot of valuable modernist architecture remained there from those beautiful times, so turning to the tradition of modernism is an intentional act in this context.
The simplicity of elements juxtaposed with abstract geometric form, the contrast of glass planes with the calm order of stone walls determine the aesthetic character of the building. Light, voluminous and dynamic glass sheets build a counterbalance to the heavy stately stone walls. It's a kind of flirtation of masses, an architectural weighing of material weights. The stone expresses a relationship with the earth and engages in a dialogue with the transience of glass. The stone cladding here takes on an extremely rustic form - the wall is laid in the form of slabbed stone broken in layers, from a quarry in Kombornia. It is stripped from the deposit according to the arrangement of the rock layers. The two surfaces are approximately parallel and flat, while the facing edges are generally rectilinear.
The materials used in the construction were contrasted. Part of the facade was plastered in white, and part was clad in rough stone. The double pavilion is thus modern and familiar, modernist and vernacular. "Villa in Two Pavilions" thus exemplifies the architectural philosophy of Rafal Barycz and Pavel Saramovich, which is based on three fundamental axioms. The first is to merge modernism with indigenousness, rooting it in cultural tradition and giving it vernacular characteristics, which I call "Identity Modernism."
"A consequence of the mass production of goods, the massification of symbolic culture and the commercialization of the world has been the homogenization of architecture, which was once a boon, but today no longer appeals to societies. Every developed nation wants to mark its distinctiveness. The Architectural Bureau of Barycz and Saramowicz has a firm vision of the shape of modern architecture. The architecture of modern Poland in the 21st century must be avant-garde and hyper-modern, and at the same time distinct, not imitative, but drawing on its own history and tradition. Modernization of space while maintaining autonomy and originality is the primary task of Polish architectural thought" (the quote is from Rafał Barycz's monograph titled. "Contemporary Villa in Poland," Builder's Library, Warsaw 2017).
It was important to refer to the architecture of modernism of the COP period
© Barycz and Saramowicz
Wiktor Bochenek: Theconnection with the immediate surroundings and the organization of the surrounding space were important. How did these elements influence the design process and the final realization?
Rafał Barycz: The second determinant of our architectural work is contextualism, which aims to perfectly inscribe the building object into the background of the natural and cultural landscape. The unforgettable beauty of the project site is the forest landscape, numerous charming groves and birch woods. Thanks to the composition of the building in the form of two quiet pavilions with flat roofs, it does not dominate the surroundings, blending in with the suburban climate and forest neighborhood. The building meanders along the existing stand of trees. Large glazings open the interior to the surroundings, allowing the extraordinary beauty of the landscape to penetrate into the house.
The garden surrounding the villa was an equally important element of the composition
© Barycz and Saramowicz
One can repeat after Szczęsny Morawski that "nature alone is the mother of construction, just as it is the mother of all beauty," and after Adam Asnyk: "oh, great poem of nature, who can follow in the footsteps of your beauties with eternal inspiration".
Wiktor Bochenek: What influenced the choice of materials, primarily the slabbed stone from the quarry in Kombornia?
Rafał Barycz: When choosing the raw materials necessary for the erection of an architectural work, one should take into account their appropriateness in relation to the adopted functional-spatial and technical solutions, as well as the necessary localness, for architecture grows out of culture and builds its face in relation to it.
The material from the quarry in Kombornia was an important element creating a dialogue with the locality
© Barycz and Saramowicz
Wiktor Bochenek: What was the most difficult during the design of "Villa in Two Pavilions", and what are you most proud of?
Rafal Barycz: The last of the milestones of Barycz and Saramowicz's architectural work is conceptualism, expressed in the belief in the primary role of architectural thought, which should be understood as the correct reading of a social need. In architectural design, the most important thing is the idea, and the project must be characterized by a clear idea and be purposeful. "Regardless of whether we build a building of stone, facing concrete, highly processed membranes or simple dranica, always the true subject of architecture is man and his psychophysical needs, and the future of the world is architecture" (the quote is from Rafal Barycz's book titled. "Contemporary Villa in Poland").
Wiktor Bochenek: Thank you for the interview.
"Villa in Two Pavilions" © Barycz and Saramowicz.
© Barycz and Saramowicz
