Its design was carried out by architects from the PL.architekci studio. The white house was built near Poznań. It is single-storey and has a floor area of 439 square metres. It is a sizable building that offers comfort and space to its inhabitants. The building was nominated for the Architecture Award of the Wielkopolska Region NAWW 2024 in the category “Single-family house” and was a finalist in the competition “Interior of the year”, Association of Interior Architects.
House S is a single-family white house that seems to function in complete symbiosis with the surrounding nature. Its minimalist form, reminiscent of the letter ‘S’, has emerged from a functional layout intricately inscribed in the landscape. The designers aimed to ensure that no tree had to give way to the building – so that the house, like a contemporary sculpture, blends in perfectly with the lush forest surroundings. Already during the first visit to the plot, one could feel that the house was intended to be a simple, glazed pavilion that opens up onto the beautiful garden, creating an uninterrupted dialogue between architecture and nature.
The main challenge of the project was the need to fit a complex functional programme into a limited space, which forced the design team to take an original approach. Instead of the traditional cuboid, the architects decided to ‘compress’ the volume by twisting it in two places. This innovative concept gave the building a unique, meandering shape that seamlessly cuts through the plot space, allowing residents to almost literally listen to the rhythm of nature.
Original solutions
Although the house was intended to be single-storey, the local development plan required the roof slopes to be at a 20° angle – a new challenge for the designers. The solution turned out to be an accordion roof that wrapped around the entire building. Its complex form was not only hidden on the outside – the roof also unexpectedly made its way into the interiors, creating spaces with varying heights. As a result, occupants can enjoy a sense of spaciousness in areas where more modest spaces were previously imagined. The minimalist lighting and mechanical ventilation integrated into the roof break lines not only emphasise the modern character of the building, but also improve its acoustics.
The design of the house assumed that the interiors would not only fulfil their residential function, but would also become an extension of the façade. A spacious, glazed corridor leads like a path through the garden, removing the classic division between ‘house’ and ‘garden’. In this way, what is inside the building becomes at the same time an exhibit on the façade – architecture and interiors become inextricably intertwined. Every step in this labyrinth of space is a constant contemplation of form, light and the surrounding nature.
Spacious interior
The minimalist character of the S house is expressed in the sparing choice of materials and colours. The dominant palette is white – the resin floors blend seamlessly with the concrete band surrounding the building, providing a contrast to the dark brown veneered oak buildings. Every detail of the interior has been carefully considered. The huge Marteen sofa from Molteni & C was designed for conversations while admiring the nature outside the window. In the living room, Anna Zalewska’s painting, despite its expressiveness and vivid colours, does not compete with the furniture or the changing treescape, but forms a harmonious whole.
Ceramic figurines by Belgian sculptor Renaat Ramon, symbolically alluding to the number of household members, enter into dialogue with the painting, creating a subtle fusion of art and everyday life. In the dining room, meanwhile, organically imperfect ceramics by Katarzyna Poniecka break the austerity of the interior, giving it a human dimension. On the main circulation axis, in the place of the building’s characteristic twist, a monumental sculpture by Wojciech Iłenda dominates – its austere structure, emphasised by spot lighting, gives the space a unique expression, and every walk along the corridor becomes an everyday artistic experience. A duet with a diptych by Grzegorz Worpus-Budziejewski, painted especially for this house, completes the whole, capturing the spirit of silence and harmony present in the project.
For the creators of the S house, the boundaries between architecture and interior disappear – each element of the design is part of a single, coherent whole. Architecture not only sets the framework for everyday life, but also creates a space for contemplation and dialogue with art and nature. It is this holistic vision that makes the S house an example of a modern design philosophy, where the interiors create the architecture and the architecture itself inspires a life of silence and balance. This is exactly what the white house near Poznań is like.
design: PL.architekci, architects Bartłomiej Bajon, Katarzyna Cynka – Bajon, Bartosz Stanek
interior design: PL.architekci
photography: PL.architekci
Read also: single-family house | Poznan | Modernism | elevation | whiteMAD on Instagram
