Architects from the rmk.architektura studio have designed a semi-detached house, which is part of a larger complex of houses on Kwiatów Polskich Street in Warsaw. The buildings were nominated for the Architectural Award of the Wielkopolska Region 2024 competition in the Export Work category, which awards projects by Wielkopolska architects completed in other parts of the country.
The semi-detached houses are located in the Wawer district. The proposed architecture of the houses is intended as an alternative to typical developer housing estates. These are modern houses with a simple form. The buildings have clear divisions into a “base” – the ground floor with a protruding part of the ground floor – and a “bungalow” – a withdrawn block of the first floor. This division is emphasised by the use of different finishing materials.
The buildings have been offset from each other to add intimacy and separateness. The entrance areas have been accentuated and the roofs divided into two segments with geometries corresponding to the different parts of the building. Recesses and setbacks provide adequate ventilation and views of the greenery in the garden.
The houses are designed in brick technology with reinforced concrete elements and wooden roof trusses. They also have a ceiling over the first floor. The range of materials has been limited to render and corrugated sheet metal. The minimalist feature is also emphasised by the colour scheme, which is the result of a desire to break up the homogeneous grey style of the newly designed housing estates.
Each semi-detached house designed has a similar functional layout. The ground floor consists of a technical area with a garage and boiler room. The living area is the living room, while the kitchen is connected to the dining room. In addition, there is a pantry and a toilet in the ground floor of the houses. From the living area it is possible to access the terrace.
The private zone was created on the first floor. There, the architects designed three bedrooms, a bathroom, a laundry room and a dressing room. In total, the buildings are 135 square metres each and were designed with families of 2 3 in mind.
The main idea was to create an architecture that puts the users at the centre, giving them their own space, responding to their needs. The buildings were set back ensuring privacy for the tenants, separating the terraces or entrance alcoves, among other things. The location of the parking spaces between the buildings made it possible to hide the cars, show the facades and enlarge the gardens. Thanks to these measures, architecture and people play the most important role in the project, while the rest is a side element,” concludes the project’s authors.
design: rmk.architektura(www.rmkarchitektura.pl)
design team: Roderyk Milik, Maja Krzymińska, Julia Kurowska
photography: Nate Cook
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