Piotr Krajewski - Fotografia Architektury / Architectural Photography

One of the most beautiful in Poland. “House on the Edge” hidden among the trees

The House on the Edge by 77 Studio architecture won an award in the single-family residential category of the SARP 2024 Award of the Year. The building combines the distinctly separate spaces of the estate and the forest. The luxury villa looks as if it has grown up among the trees.

The jury of the SARP competition appreciated the project’s “particular culture of respect for the surrounding nature, which permeates the interior to form a unified whole with it in the perception of the living space”.

“The building’s very light yet modern glazed body fits perfectly into the space without standing out. The subtlety of the form was appreciated, given the residential character of the building,” – reads the justification for the nomination.

Designed by 77 Studio of Architecture, the house stood on a spacious plot located in the vicinity of a forest, on the edge of a residential estate near Warsaw.

We did not choose this place by accident. We were very familiar with the surroundings and the nearby nature reserve with its beautiful old trees. For a long time, we had been thinking about a house in a modern style, which we particularly appreciate, something refined, yet full of simplicity. That is why we entrusted the design task to the 77 Studio architecture studio, known for similar projects,” admits Mr Wojciech, the owner of the house.

The basic aim of the project was to fit the building into two aesthetically distinct spaces.

We thought of the house as a common set of a residential estate and a forest, creating an urbanistic and stylistic bridge between two orders of different character. This is how the idea of the “House on the Edge” was born – says its author Pawel Naduk, architect and owner of the 77 Architecture Studio.

In a neighbourhood dominated by massive, two-storey houses, the architect decided to achieve the effect of the gradual disappearance of the estate under the forest. He proposed lowering the height of the building and using natural materials that blend with the surroundings. The result is a single-storey house with a wooden façade in the form of a large pavilion. It is characterised by simplicity and an unusual economy of expression, particularly on the estate side. The minimalist wooden façade blends in perfectly with the woodland setting, while the details and high-quality materials attest to the fact that this is a luxurious and unusual building.

Piotr Krajewski – Architecture Photography / Architectural Photography

According to our assumptions, the house from the beginning, although luxurious, was to be modest and unpretentious. The final result was a residence in the form of simple boxes of grey, unprotected wood, complemented by refined details. In our country, the acceptance of such a way of thinking about a high-class home is still a remarkable rarity, says architect Paweł Naduk.

The building was composed as a set of planes arranged between trees. The form adopted allowed for a controlled play of light in the rooms and the creation of many intimate garden areas with respect for the existing tree stand.

From the entrance, the homogeneous body of the building was reduced to two walls, corresponding with the buildings of the estate. On the street side, the house has no fence, and what might appear at first glance to be a wooden fence is in fact the façade of the building. It discreetly conceals the main entrance, with the garage doors only visible when the automatic wings swing open in the building monolith.

Piotr Krajewski – Architecture Photography / Architectural Photography

It is different from the forest itself, where the surroundings are intimate. Here the boundary between inside and outside has been blurred with panes of glass. The interpenetration of one space with the other is enhanced by the use of the same finishing materials inside and on the façade. In addition, the floors have been let outside beyond the building’s perimeter, and vegetation penetrates the interior. It enters patios and half patios, and appears behind a glass wall in the lobby, lounge and toilet. All of this gives one the feeling of living in a forest, while providing plenty of light in the interior.

The perfectly smooth plane of the walls and floors made of large-format quartz sinters in a uniform light colour scheme, becomes a stage for the play of light: the rays coming from the skylights, the shadows cast by the surrounding trees and the chiaroscuro created by the openwork pergolas on the terraces.

The projects of 77 Architecture Studio are often characterised by a perfect coexistence with landscape architecture. It is no different here, where the plant continuation of the architects’ work has been entrusted to Małgorzata Sobótka of Studio Krajobraz.

Although the close forest surroundings are the main asset of this site, we did not want to allow the forest under the house itself. We created a gentle, harmonious transition between the old-growth forest and the space around the building used by the owners, ” says the landscape architect.

The procedure consisted of introducing an intermediate floor in the garden, which separates the wild forest thicket with its centuries-old oaks from the carefully selected house plants. These are made up of small trees and woodland shrubs such as calla, bumblebee and ginkgo, which reflect the light strongly thanks to their bright foliage. Closer to the house, ferns, undergrowth and various evergreen perennials were planted. In this way, the effect of an illuminated forest glade was achieved. In the sunniest part of the garden, which is next to the pool and the terrace, space has been created for a functional lawn.

With a floor area of 560 sq m, the house has the latest technology and equipment that is synonymous with luxury today. Inside, there is a swimming pool whose walls can be extended on summer days, a spa area, an exercise room and an outdoor Jacuzzi. It is armed with an intelligent control system for lighting, air conditioning, heating, sliding curtains, audio, etc.

We tried to create a comfortable place for the owners to live, while being mindful not to dominate this beautiful place. When realising high-budget homes, it is often an important and difficult aspect for builders to exercise restraint. We are pleased that in this case the owners fully trusted us, so that together we worked out every detail. We hope that the building, while meeting the very high requirements of the users, will also remain in a noble symbiosis with its surroundings,” concludes arch. Paweł Naduk concludes.

design: 77 Architecture Studio

photography: Piotr Krajewski

Read also: single-family house | Modernism | Architecture in Poland | Featured | whiteMAD on Instagram

Latest content on the site

Beauty is all around you