GAIJIN is a house project prepared by architect Paweł Lis. The semi-detached house was built in Józefów near Warsaw. In designing it, the architect drew on the culture of Japan, wanting to create original architecture that would catch the eye.
The word gaijin comes from the Japanese language. It can be translated as ‘outsider, foreigner’. Paweł Lis admits that this is how the new building can be interpreted.
The semi-detached house was built on Wyszyńskiego Street. The building is very simple on the one hand, but on the other it brings to mind somewhat exotic realisations from the Far East for us. The house has two units and was built on a forest plot of 1,600 sq m. The investor expected the building to have a simple, unique form, and the plot would accommodate four parking spaces. The second part of this task proved more difficult than the first, as they did not want to cut down valuable trees to make additional space.
The house stands between the trees. Its façade was clad in grey-beige clinker tiles in regular vertical bands. With their texture and uneven shade, the tiles are reminiscent of the bark on the pine trees growing nearby. The aluminium-framed windows are accentuated with black alucobond planes. The appearance of the house is defined by facades with a strong, graphic character and a cubic building form.
Each of the two units has approximately 160 square metres of floor space and two parking spaces. One in the garage and the other outside. Residents will be able to enjoy considerable space. The ground floor is 3 m high and space has been created there for a living room with dining area, an open kitchen and a toilet. The large terrace on the living room side has deliberately not been covered. The tall trees naturally shield this space from excessive sunlight.
On the first floor, there is a bedroom with bathroom, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry room. This distribution of functions ensures that the household members can organise their daily life properly, with a clear division into a living zone on the ground floor and a more intimate zone on the ground floor
The windows are made of an aluminium system, the façade is clad with clinker tile and alucobond panels. The house is powered by a heat pump and there is space for a photovoltaic installation on the roof.
The house appeared in my sketchbook and materialised in Józefów. Such a process is still a fantastic phenomenon for me. The house has a lot of space around it, it is modest, it doesn’t impose itself on anyone, and its façade of beige uneven tile fits into the pine forest. For us, ‘Gaijin’ is familiar because it represents architecture appropriate to the times in which it was built, and with its form it certainly brings life to the local development of sleepy Józefów,” emphasises arch. Pawel Lis.
PS you want to know more about the architect’s projects? You can find our interview with Paweł Lis HERE
design: Pawel Lis
photos: Radek Galczynski
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