The overall concept for this “country” house was an attempt to interpret the traditional regional form, characteristic for the Jurassic Park zone, and to translate it into modern language. Such a concept met with the investor’s approval. The decision on land development, as issued by the local municipal office, introduces a number of limitations as far as the form is concerned. These include: the roof slope, two symmetrical roof planes, as well as predefined heights for the eaves, cornice and crest. Such guidelines are difficult to be met, especially due to the steepness of terrain and limitations resulting from the ban on altering the terrain by means of ditches and mounds exceeding one metre (in height or depth). The development area is limited to 20% of the plot space, meanwhile, the latter is also rather small, as limited by the investor’s budget.
The overall concept boils down to searching for a way to simplify the regional form, allowing for its “synthesis” of sorts, with the sharp edges of the structure defining the building’s geometry and its proportions.
To this end, it was necessary to disguise gutters within roof planes and to evacuate water through downspouts hidden within the layers of wooden insulation cladding.
The uniform material used for wall and roof cladding results from concept assumptions.
Architectural details is limited to one single material, i.e. profiled strips and boards made of Siberian larch. It has been used in the basic finish of the walls and roof. Profiled strips cover the “central” structure in a vertical composition, while on the ground floor the forms protruding from the central part of the building , and creating terraces in the attic space, have been covered with horizontally laid boards, to stress the structure’s horizontal plan and to arrive at an optical illusion of elongation, in contrast with the terrain slopes. The second material used in the facade was glass, while the terrain embankments have been constructed in raw concrete.
Due to the official regulations, steel railings have been added to the low wooden terrace balustrades.
Traditional window and door openings, with their small and divided glass panes, have been replaced with large pieces of glass, as an expression of modern civilisation achievements. The largest opening, i.e. the window in the sitting room, has been directed towards the Balice airport visible in the distance, with its panoramic character allowing to observe planes taking off and landing.
The glass pane, weighing circa 800 kg, with 320 cm and 450 cm in size, had to be transported and lifted with the use of heavy equipment, which posed a massive executive task amongst rural landscape, with its large terrain slopes and lack of access routes.
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