House in Bielany

The prime value of the site and the determinant of the context of place is in the location at the edge of Warsaw Embankment, from where a view stretches above the roofs of the houses below. The architectural formula comes down to a rectangular “box” dressed in light travertine cladding, topped with a distinct cornice which closes the form and makes reference to Italian villas, the client’s aesthetic canon present also in some completed projects on Warsaw Embankment. The closed composition of the main block provided opportunities to open up views in line with the functional and interior arrangement needs.

The interiors were subordinated to the advantages of the location – far-reaching views from the top of the embankment integrated, as fully as possible, with the garden, while organizing their multi-level composition so that the individual areas of the ground floor, the first floor and the basement together form a single common space. Links with the environment are emphasised by uniform ground floor and terrace floor textures continued in the division of the backyard lawn. The floor divisions strictly correspond to window and stone façade divisions, forming a three-dimensional fabric for shaping the basic components of the building.

The stone cladding to the main body of the building forms a one-dimensional “jacket”, which – despite the use of a material which is heavy by definition – creates the effect of lightness and emphasises the simplicity of form owing to its “thinness” revealed in the design of details.