A house in the Podlasie region designed by Matusik Studio.

The house in Podlasie is the latest project by Matusik Studio architects. “The investor approached us with a request to design a house in the style of a modern barn. He dreamt of it being all sheet metal, the roof and facade having wood appliqués. It was clear from the outset that this would be a premium house with high-quality solutions and materials. We proceeded to develop the design concept.” – begins the description of the realisation by Rafał Matusik of Matusik Studio, which is responsible for the project.

It proved to be a challenge to design a comfortable house on a relatively narrow and long plot. In addition, the only attractive view, of the forest, opened up to the north, and the access road was on the western side of the plot. Priorities were set: to design a large comfortable living area comprising living room, dining room and kitchen with a view of the forest. Ideally, this should be a panoramic view

On the other side of the building, separated by a corridor, was an intimate-night zone containing a bedroom, bathroom and dressing rooms. With such an interior layout, it was necessary to extend the body of the building, and so two parallel modern barns were created, merged into one body. The next design step with these assumptions was the roofs of both parts of the building

“When looking for the best solution, our attention was focused on the interpretation of the development conditions, in which the guidelines said: roof slope angles from 30o to 45o. We took this provision literally and designed a roof slope of 30o degrees over one part of the block and 45o degrees over the other. This, in turn, resulted in the (lower) part of the house being open to the ridge, while the other part, where the roof had a steeper pitch, housed two bedrooms.” – explain the architects

From the outset, the architects’ idea was to make the body of the house as clear as possible, finished with as few different materials as possible. Therefore, only aluminium sheeting (roof and façade) and HPL panels with a natural wood surface finish (recesses and arcades) were put in place. All in a ventilated façade system

“We also dispensed with slope windows in favour of two scaled-down dormers that let light into the central part of the block. We considered the north orientation of the living area for a long time. The client had concerns about this solution. In the end, we were able to reach an agreement and the client, after moving into the house and after the heat wave, is grateful to us for this solution. Conclusion: the view from the living area is the most important thing. Especially with such large glazings from the sun, it is even good to turn away.” – adds the architect

Project metrics
Project name: House S 31
Studio: MATUSIK_STUDIO / https://matusikstudio.pl
Lead Architect: Rafał Matusik
Assistant Lead Architect: Paulina Smoktunowicz
Year of completion: 2022
Living area: ^340m2
Location: Podlaskie, Poland
Function: Single-family house,
Photos: Paulina Angielczyk / https://www.instagram.com/parkometr/