Landscape house

The house was designed in hilly scenery of the Krakow Valleys. These natural treasures are located north-west from the city and belonging to the part of the Polish Jurassic Highland. Small streams have created them as a result of the erosion into the limestone rocks. The valleys are protected through being officially termed a landscaped park and they cover approximately 20,000 hectares. A number of reserves were created to further protect rare plants as well as particularly interesting rocks and caves.

Principal assumptions of the project were suiting to a context, a proximity to nature and preservation of intimacy by future inhabitants. The building seems to be invisible from the western and southern parts. A green roof adjusted to a natural land inclination does not spoil a surrounding landscape. A space between existing scarps and the walls will be backfilled and contoured with soil obtained from foundation works. Thanks to patio being an extension of a daytime area the building opens up to natural light and impressive view of Krakow Valleys. The use of local materials, among others broken limestone from the Limestone Quarry 10 km away not only emphasizes the attachment to the context, but also has an ecological and economic dimension – significantly reduces the carbon footprint and the cost of the entire investment.

Plan of the building was split into two areas: daytime and private. A daytime area is entirely opened up to terrace, which connect with an interior by means of a high glazing. Interiors, including walls and ceilings will be finished in natural wood, floorings in polished concrete. The workshop space is supposed to be a background to created art there. A daylight flooding in imparts a natural warmth to interiors, and a vast glazing enables to utterly open up a room to an inner courtyard covered with trees. A bedroom is situated on a separate floor, which ensures an appropriately intimate aura. Its area includes a wardrobe, a bedroom zone and an open bathroom. A sliding glazing makes it possible to extend this area by an external terrace.

The project entails a transformation and an attempt of a maximal use of a surrounding landscape and nature, a creation of shelter to dwell in with a simultaneous the least possible interference in natural values of an existing place. The building fits in with the little-known architecture style called "hidden architecture", which appeared in the world in the 1970s. The first buildings designed in this way include The Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon-Fourvière (1972, arch. Bernard Zehrfuss) and the Dune House in Atlantic Beach, Florida (1975, arch. William Morgan).

The house was designed by young Krakow architect Adrian Kasperski, who has been running his own design studio in Krakow since 2018. The studio tries to combine creativity, courage and consistency, often enabling its projects to have a closer relationship between human and nature.

The house is planned to be built in 2021-2022.