It is like a modernist villa. A single-family house in Warsaw

The S-House was designed by architects from STOPROCENT Architekci. The single-family house was built in Warsaw. Its form is reminiscent of Californian villas

The house was designed for a middle-aged couple with a teenage daughter and a dog. In the design process, the emphasis was on the balance between space, access to natural light and the residents’ sense of privacy

The architects carefully analysed the location. They identified advantages as well as disadvantages. The latter include the small footprint, access from the south and the massive building on the neighbouring plot, which imposes its context. In such a configuration, it became a design problem that the new building, while opening up to sunlight from the south, would simultaneously open up towards the street, the driveway and the garage, and this is in contrast to the clients’ expected need for privacy

The team at STOPROCENT Architects faced these problems and decided to operate with a correspondingly smaller composition module and use it like the building blocks from which the target living space will be constructed

Due to their different purposes, the individual building modules were placed at different heights. Thus, the “garage” block was placed directly at ground level and, due to its location at the very front of the building, was additionally emphasised by a noble ceramic façade. The “living room” and “kitchen” blocks were placed slightly higher, at the back of the plot, and then moved in such a way as to create a small patio with a terrace between them and the garage, the authors of the project explain

The other two blocks, containing separate sleeping areas for the parents and the daughter, were placed at the very top. Their offsets and overhangs provide natural canopies over the main entrance and terraces

Due to the relatively small size of the plot, a lot of attention was paid to the design of the garden. It is intended to provide additional privacy for the residents, acting as a green buffer between the building and its surroundings. It is particularly pleasing that the birch tree on the plot was preserved, despite the complexity of the construction and the technical difficulties associated with the foundations. Its crown now covers the entrance to the building and “looks” into the upstairs bedroom. A green accent in this form is a considerable asset

project: STOPROCENT Architects (www.stoprocentarchitekci.pl)

photo: Piotr Krajewski(www.pkrajewski.pl)

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