view from the forest side
Photo: Bartek Zaranek © 81.WAW.PL
Interview with Beata Winnicka, owner
The story begins in 2012 - with the decision that it's time to leave the apartment in Warsaw and live closer to nature. First there was a vision of a house, then a plot of land, and then the search for architects who could give shape to this vision. They only found common ground with architects from the 81.WAW.PL studio. They moved into the house in 2015, and now that they've settled in, they decided to show it and tell how their journey from vision, through design, to finished building looked like.
Katarzyna Jagodzinska: How did your path to the house begin? What were your expectations from the project?
Beata Winnicka: We started planning the construction of the house in 2012. We were delighted with the designs of a well-known studio from Cape Town, SAOTA. We saw their unique designs and dreamed of a different lifestyle. Previously, we had an apartment, actually a segment, but it did not meet our expectations, so we started looking for a plot of land. It was important for us that the plot be close to the center of Warsaw and at the same time be nicely located, for example in a forest or by the water. After a long search, we managed to find such a place. The plot is located in the buffer zone of the Kampinos Forest, but not in the middle of nowhere. The purchased land property was already developed with wooden houses. We had lived here for some time and treated it as our plot, so we knew the place for future construction well and were better prepared for it because of this. The wooden houses were quickly demolished, but we were looking for architects for quite a long time. That was the moment when Robert Konieczny's Aatrial House was awarded. We were delighted with this project. We made inquiries to leading Polish design offices, had many meetings and conversations to get to know each other and establish a thread of understanding. We realized that we had to look among young architects who would listen to our needs, rather than talk about themselves and the visions they still wanted to realize.
Terrace facing the forest with direct access from the kitchen and dining room
Photo: Bartek Zaranek © 81.WAW.PL
We started our cooperation with a Lodz office, which did a very interesting design of the Mirror House for us. The project was unique, atypical, but unrealistic for me: it did not fit into the surroundings. Part of the facade was to be covered with stainless steel, creating the impression of just a mirror reflection. It didn't quite meet my aesthetic expectations. It was an interesting, groundbreaking idea, but I couldn't imagine operating such a building later, and I thought it didn't fit with the forest climate. We ended our cooperation on the visual concept for this project.
I am of the opinion that the building must blend in perfectly with the surrounding space, including color, and not dominate or compete with it. We were looking for architects with good taste above all, young, open-minded and not afraid of challenges. We found such an office - 81.WAW.PL.
Already the first project was very interesting, but differed a little from our vision, while the second was almost a hundred percent accurate. The only thing left to refine was the choice of elevation. In this project, the facade was to be white plaster, but we did not want the house to stand out too much against the dark forest. My husband and I and the architects thought for a long time about changing the facade. There was no doubt that one of the best materials would be wood, while the other became natural stone - quartzite. We were inspired by mountain landscapes and rocks overgrown with forest vegetation. We wanted the house to connect us with nature and also blend well with it. The house is sited at the back of the plot, away from the road, and due to the dark color and texture of the facade resembling pine bark, it is practically invisible, fading into the background of the forest.
The covered terrace on the side of the main entrance
Photo: Bartek Zaranek © 81.WAW.PL
