House in the Landscape

Old stone church, towering ruins of Morsko and Ogrodzieniec castles, Monadnocks scattered around – rising several meters above the surrounding terrain. In this picturesque scenery, using simply shaped volumes and local materials, "House in the Landscape" is trying to become an integral part of its surrounding and to fit well into the landscape. The house consists of two main volumes – residential zone and two-car garage – that are connected by an open-work, wooden link. It unifies the two separate volumes, allowing light into small courtyard in between.

After the Dominus winery (Herzog & de Meuron) and Gabion House (Titus Bernhard), gabions became frequently used by architects. In this case the main part of the building is finished with gabion baskets (filled with local limestone) used as an outer skin – kind of camouflage to blend the house in with the landscape. The bedroom cube and the triangle bay are made of wooden slats. Graphite, titanium-zinc sheets with standing seam cladding was used for the roofing.

On the L-shaped ground floor there is main living space, an open kitchen and a private part with master bedroom, bathroom and wardobe. Two bedrooms and a smaller bathroom are located on the top floor. The most striking part is a day zone, which is double-height open space. Big windows present carefully framed views and give a great insight to a southern west situated garden. The property is heated by a heat pump. It is also equipped with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and triple-glazed windows.