Family House of the Future

This extension of the “House of the Future” competition concept is set in the logic of building dwellings which has been known since times immemorial in terms of typology, order and attitude to building materials. A significant novelty is the way of implementing the eternal rules – setting them in today’s social and technical realities. The house is built around the core – a massive central shaft that stores energy – from which the space “deconcentrates”, passing smoothly into the garden surrounding via glazed walls, moving wooden louvers, eves, dwarf walls and terrace decks. Handling the conflict between the massive nature of the core and its role as a central hall was the hardest design challenge. Consequently, a twin-face structure was created. Its interior accommodates most of the technical facilities, while the outside forms a kind of “climatic chimney”, which provides natural ventilation and accumulation of heat, and a corridor/dressing room. Multiple passive (traditional) methods of energy management have been adopted in parallel with advanced technologies, such as geothermal heating. With prominence given to natural properties of materials, the house is integrated into the landscape of outer Warsaw suburban fields and groves.