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RS+ Robert Skitek Design a House in Krostoszowice, Poland to Fit Into the Surrounding Topography
By Jessica • May 27, 2020
House in Krostoszowice is a residential project completed by RS+ Robert Skitek.
The home is located in Krostoszowice, Poland.
House in Krostoszowice by RS+ Robert Skitek:
“The surrounding landscape interested us more than unexciting development context. Hilly area and forest in the background has become a main point of reference. The building fits to existing topography, coincides with the landscape. House is open towards the most interesting views and separate from the nearest buildings. From the street we can see single-storey building with garage and glass foyer between. This characteristic body of the buildings have a required by the local law sloping roofs, they are covered totally with slate. Concrete fence wall marks platform with building, entrance area, driveway and wooden terrace suspended over the ground. Bedrooms are located downstairs. This part of the building is partially covered by ground and invisible from the street. Under the upper terrace, at the ground level is second, fully covered terrace. Exterior cantilevered stairs link both terraces. In interiors, white surfaces of walls and slanted ceiling are complemented by glass, polished concrete and natural wood floors, wooden stairs and dark accessories. On the top level there is open living room. Pantry, study room, toilet and kitchen were hidden in white cuboid. Above cuboid there is mezzanine with bookcase. Wooden stairs are a conspicuous part of the living room. When we go downstairs we can walk out directly to lower terrace. On this floor there are 2 rooms for children, main bedroom with dressing room, toilet, technical rooms with laundry room and climbing gym. In addition, a storage accessible from the outside is located on the lower floor.”
Photos by: Tomasz Zakrzewski
The architectural firm Rob Paulus Architects renovated this construction in 2012 for a doctor. Its size is of 4500 ft2, and is located in Tucson, Arizona, USA. This renovation opens up the house to encompass the lush desert landscape while improving the interior of the property. The new shapes are crisp and clean to contrast with the rounded exterior of the existing building.
Using a reductive approach in the interior, the walls are disassembled to provide better function, circulation, and views. Outside, an existing trellis porch transforms into an outdoor living room and a kitchen with a new elevated canopy.
A palette of colors and natural material dominates the new scheme with an emphasis on fir wood that was influenced by the client’s desire to create spaces inspired by nature. This warm wood is used in all interior cabinets, but it also appears on the outside as the bottom part of the roof plane that hangs over the area of the outdoor room. The existing closed house is transformed to interact with the exterior while creating a relaxing interior space in a decidedly modern transformation.
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- Terrace with arid vegetation
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- Outdoor furniture
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- Large decorated terrace
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- Pool area
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- Living area in leather furniture
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- Large kitchen-dining area
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- Modern kitchen in wood
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- TV room
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- Modern sink area
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- Pool area at night hours
Modern Apartment with a Marked Industrial Style Designed for a Young Businessman
By Magaly • Nov 8, 2018
This fabulous and modern apartment located in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, has been designed by the architects Ivan Yunakov, Olga Korniienko, Natali Raga, and Yaroslav Katrich, all working for the firm 33bY Architecture. The client was a young entrepreneur, and the home has a distinct industrial style.
It has an area of 97 square meters and was carried out in 2018. In the interior, a palette of dark colors and a variety of materials were used, with different structures. Among those materials were brick, natural African black stone, onyx, leather, copper, and wood. Upon entering the apartment, the first thing we notice is the wall made of black stone on one side, and the black surface with golden decoration elements on the other side. The living room is combined with a kitchen, a dining room, and a work space.
The space was separated by using glass partitions, looking to align the boundaries between the facilities, but at the same time to achieve open and floating spaces. The glass structure is made by using the “smart glass” system technology; it can be converted to matt to achieve greater privacy within the room.
The panel that was used to balance the dark tones is white onyx with backlighting framed by copper edges. It works at night and creates a cozy atmosphere, and is the focal point of our interior, seen from all the main facilities of the apartment.
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- Elegant entrance in black and gold
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- Spacious and modern lounge
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- Elegant lounge area
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- Modern furniture in leather
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- Stone wall
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- kitchen area
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- Modern kitchen with bronze details
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- Details
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- Sober dining room
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- Modern room with brick wall
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- Room connected with modern bathroom
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- Modern and elegant bathroom
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- Modern and elegant bathroom
A Remodeling that Manages to Fuse the Interior with the Exterior
By Magaly • Nov 5, 2018
This modern residence of open spaces and full of natural light was re-designed by the architecture firm David Coleman Architecture in 2015 in the city of Seattle, United States. It has an area of 6058 ft2, and we can see the result of the attempts to merge both the interior and the exterior. The original house, designed in 1956 by a prominent Seattle architect, is located in the private enclave of Broadmoor. It was conceived as a serpentine structure of a single floor.
The objective of the firm was to clarify the layout; add where necessary to improve habitability, merge the interior and exterior space where possible, and improve the general ambience. To achieve this, a series of initiatives were launched that had the effect of better defining the access to the house, the movement through the house, and the relationship between the interior and exterior space. This resulted in a transformation of the whole, raising the overall quality of the building and the landscape, allowing the promise of the original structures and the site to be fully realized.
The plan preserves the openness that one expects in a modern home, but it also contains an appearance of intimacy that is not expected in such a large and open building. This is achieved through the insertion of subtle but effective architectural devices, all lending a more human and accessible scale.
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- View of the external terraces
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- Main entrance
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- Spacious interior full of light
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- Modern kitchen area
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- Modern kitchen in wood
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- Large living room
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- Internal corridors connect the areas
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- Wooden internal stairs
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- Room with glass walls
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- Large bathroom in wood
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- Large bathroom
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- Nocturnal view
An Old Carpentry Workshop Maintains its Essence even Though it has been Transformed into an Architectural Workshop
By Magaly • Nov 1, 2018
Transforming, rescuing and recycling were the main themes in this new work space, ensuring that the essence of the house and the old carpentry workshop were not lost. The architects and designers Carlos Cardona, Diana Amador, Paulina Gonzalez, Felicia Ureña, Merlina Stephens, Alberto Molina, Jessica Young, Miguel Montor, and Francisco I. Bustillos from the Miguel Montor Architecture Workshop were all involved. They had this study house that they found interesting, and that, mixed with the idea of an architectural workshop, they wanted to achieve a place where they could discuss materials, details, textures, and environments. It would be the perfect place for brainstorming and contemplation.
The area of 145 square meters is distributed in 4 levels: reception and showroom on the ground floor, two levels of work areas, and a roof where a small meeting room and a private one were located, the latter separated by a small terrace.
The goal was to achieve a study and architecture workshop where the aura of experimentation was always present and felt, as well as the essence of that house, and that the angel of that carpentry workshop remained present in this new work space, integrated as a renewed member of the alley.
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- External details
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- Details of the exteriors in wood
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- Views of the external gardens
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- View of the interior from the outside
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- Interior with wooden walls
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- Internal walls in concrete
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- Wooden stairs
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- Small work area
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- Offices
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- Offices
When Cooking is an Art that We Enjoy
By Magaly • Oct 31, 2018
Cooking is definitely an art and this space has been designed for those who revel in the pleasure of cooking. The space looks to bring to life the concept of a free kitchen that brings together lovers of good food, becoming the throne of a large, versatile, and functional space with an air of lightness. The one in charge of this project, carried out recently, has been W4 Arquitetura Criativa under the direction of its professionals Camila Pigatto, Fernanda Sá, and Laura Tavares.
It has an area of 35 square meters and is located in Três Figueiras, Porto Alegre, Brazil. As a sustainable solution, the iron mesh of rods in the wall serves as a custom mural in the space and is reused from the construction phase, avoiding its elimination and the waste of material. The wall with vertical garden is made with recycled cloth bags.
Another element considered sustainable is the presence of an orchard that serves as raw material for the preparation of the chef’s dishes in the workshop space, using organic spices from direct sowing.
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- Kitchen area with space for relaxation
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- Small corner of rest
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- Large kitchen area
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- Kitchen table with accessories
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- Recycled wall grille
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- Recycled wall grille
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- Vertical garden area
Remodeling of an Old Apartment in one of the Best Areas of Barcelona, Spain
By Magaly • Oct 25, 2018
The architectural firm TEd’A Arquitectes was commissioned to carry out this project that consisted of the interior remodeling of an old apartment located in the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona, Spain.
The project focuses its efforts on a single strategy, which consists of opening the floor longitudinally. The entire project is condensed into a single gesture that manages to visually connect the street and the interior courtyard, joining the opposite and, until now, distant façades. A single element is the heart of this strategy. A new wardrobe crosses the entire house from one end to the other. Those in charge of this project, architects Irene Pérez and Jaume Mayol, who in 2017 managed to create functional and welcoming spaces in this 65 square meter floor.
There was, previously, a pavement of clay tiles of 13×13 cm placed diagonally. Its condition was not very good: it had been partially modified, there were many patches and different types of tiles, the result of alterations and overlapping modifications. It was decided, thus, to replace the pavement with a new one. They chose a hydraulic pavement manufactured by Huguet.
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- Open entrance and full of natural light
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- Walls and closet divide the spaces
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- Simple and cozy lounge area
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- Small dining room with round wooden table
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- Entrance to the side kitchen
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- Narrow wooden kitchen
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- Entrance to the room with wooden doors
Modern Construction with an Intimate Relationship Between Exterior and Interior
By Magaly • Oct 23, 2018
This residence of beautiful interior and exterior spaces is located in Alajuela, Costa Rica and was designed according to the requirements of its clients by the architects Ana Ulloa and Roberto Rivera both wroking for the architectural studio Ecostudio Architects. The project carried out in the year 2017 has an area of 3767 ft2.
Its volumetric expression becomes imposing in a flat context, under a geometric superposition between a trapezoidal surface and a rectangle, where the interaction of its simple materiality, characterized by the use of exposed concrete, glass and steel, is sought.
The project is located in a hot climate zone, which implied having considerations in terms of using strategies to generate the optimum comfort state. Because of this, bioclimatic guidelines are established that range from the orientation of the home, closing towards the points of greater solar exposure, in addition to the use of crossed ventilation with large openings to optimally ventilate the different spaces as well as provide natural lighting for all the rooms. It is also characterized by having large heights and wide eaves, as well as the appropriate choice of materials to prevent overheating to the internal.
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- Exterior view of the modern construction
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- Perfectly maintained internal garden
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- Modern interior connected to the outside
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- Floor details
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- View of the garden at night hours
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- View of the garden at night hours
Wonderful Remodeling for a Family of Four
By Magaly • Oct 17, 2018
This fabulous project is the envy of its neighbors and that is the result of this renovation, carried out by the architect Ali Malek along with his team of professionals Tony Dinardo and Daniele Laurentini, all working for the architectural firm Urbanscape Architects, could not be more successful
The house, designed for a family of four, is located in the city of Toronto, Canada,has an area of 205 square meters of construction distributed over 3 floors, and was carried out in 2017.
The new house refers to the previous life of its owners in New York City, accommodating their current work and the lives of these two active professionals and their young children. An integral home is personalized with flexible and multipurpose spaces suitable for a growing family. Mainly, the design strategy responds to the owners’ need to have natural light, air and views flow into their living space.
The design strategy was achieved through architectural gestures. First, the interior partitions were dated to create a memorable and welcoming home, characterized by its intimate relationship with its landscape and immediate context. And later, a custom skylight was meticulously placed to be visible from every point on the first, second and third floors.
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- Wonderful and modern interior
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- Modern living area
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- Large and modern kitchen
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- White kitchen in minimalist style
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- Modern wooden stairs
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- Large bathroom in white
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- Bathroom with white marble floors
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- Night view of the exterior
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- Exterior view of the neighborhood
Beautiful Home Built near the San Lorenzo River
By Magaly • Oct 17, 2018
Surrounded by green hills and the San Lorenzo River in Sorel, this house has a refreshing view that gives color. This home has a total area of some 418 square meters and was uyndertaken by the architectural firm DESK architects who delegated the project to its architect Etienne Duclos.
The residence is programmed in 3 large volumes for 3 precise functions; the service block, the day block and the night block. The service block and day block are covered with wooden cladding, well anchored to the floor to join the interior and exterior. The more nocturnal block is closed with black steel and placed in the other two blocks, like the containers loaded on the cargo ships that parade daily in the river.
It is positioned to benefit from the natural topography of the site. From the road, the long and narrow land, it is possible to reach the river. This characteristic determines the location of the residence; an opportunity to have a garden level completely open on the river.
This residence of G + C, with volumes and simple lines, is organized efficiently and offers open spaces for a young family.
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- View of the house in the green colonies
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- View of the main front of the house
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- Covered terrace
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- Interior of high ceilings and fireplace
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- Large kitchen in white and wood
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- Modern kitchen in black and white
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- Large kitchen connected to the outside
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- Aerial stairs
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- Room with river view
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- Children’s room
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- Bathroom with beautiful views
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- Exterior night view
A Remodeling Creates a New Modern and Functional Space
By Magaly • Oct 16, 2018
This remodeling of an old floor of 807 ft2, located in Gràcia, Barcelona, was carried out by the architect Raúl Sanchez and his team of professionals Pau Just and Cayetano de la Torre. The previous state of the apartment belonged to a way of life incompatible with the requirements of the new owner. Therefore, the new proposal starts from the total demolition of the pre-existing situation, maintaining only the structural system (for technical and economic reasons, structural interventions were ruled out).
The space is intended to flow freely inside, to maximize the feeling of space and abolish the boundaries between the rooms: for example, both the bedroom and the guest bathroom are closed with large, large pivoting doors, from floor to ceiling, without perimeter frames. This means that partitions are not only interrupted when they reach the gaps in the doors.
The bathroom is completely black, a mixture of ceramic, granite, microcemento and black varnish, and with taps, sinks and other accessories, all in black. On the other hand, the guest bathroom has the opposite treatment: here the granite, the microcement and the varnish are all white, although the sink and faucets are kept in black. The sliding and rotating iron and glass doors draw figures that blur the axes, but also mark areas of privacy and more visible areas.
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- Private lounge area
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- Living room in modern style
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- Modern kitchen in black
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- Kitchen in black with marble top
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- Room area with sliding door
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- Room decorated in white
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- Modern and sober bathroom in black
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- Sober bathroom in black
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- Bathroom
Wonderful Project of a Modern Barn with Elegant Interiors
By Magaly • Oct 15, 2018
This residential project has been carried out by the architectural firm Amalgam Studio, which has its headquarters in the famous city of New York, under the direction of its professionals Ben Albury, Lucas Leja, Vi Huynh and Nikki Drewett. It is located on a hillside on a 120 acre rural property located near the city of Rhinebeck, epicenter of the culinary of the Hudson Valley and artistic revival in the area of Columbia County, United States. It has an area of 5000 ft2 and was conceived as a modern barn, a family residence of stone and wood of 465 m², which has four bedrooms.
The family residence celebrates the constantly changing seasonal landscape, designed to exploit natural light throughout. The fully glazed entrance is lined with pines from the distant half. Its skylight and the central ladder of floating threads divide the home between its public living room and the private sleeping areas. Private areas have varied and controlled views of distant hills, winding rivers, nearby forests and wildflower meadows. The living areas use large sliding glass doors on the decks to offer wider views of 180 degrees. On the upper floor there is a bright, white and polyvalent loft, with skylights deliberately placed for optimal observation of the stars. In short, it is a house that plays with light.
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- View to the distance of the barn
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- Barn with wooden walls
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- Wooden terrace
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- Modern and bright modern kitchen
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- Kitchen-dining area
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- Modern kitchen-dining room
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- Dining room in wood
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- Dining room in wood
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- Aerial stairs
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- Spacious room with wooden floors
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- Room with wooden walls and ceilings
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- Spacious and bright bathroom
Urban Residence with Wonderful Views
By Magaly • Oct 12, 2018
This small urban residence is located in Seattle, United States and is a clear example of what is possible to achieve by looking at these forgotten landscapes as new opportunities.
The architectural firm The Miller Hull Partnership understood it this way and took advantage of the space and its landscape converting this space of 800 ft2 (20 feet wide by 40 feet long) into what it is today.
This unique space provides the opportunity to re-imagine how people can reconnect with water in areas where the scale of ubiquitous industrial structures tends to break that relationship. With similar industrial warehouses lined up on many urban water fronts, there is the possibility of reconnecting people with navigable waterways, even in industrialized environments.
Located at the top of a warehouse larger than a football field, the unit is near the edge of the building to supervise the marina and the waterway below, while enjoying panoramic views of the Olympic Range.
Carried out in 2008 one of its main attractions remains its views.
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- Terrace with views
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- Terrace with wooden floors
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- Living room with wonderful views
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- Living room with libraries
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- Passage area
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- Room with terrace
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- Wood kitchen
Remodeling a construction that dates back to 1911
By Magaly • Oct 10, 2018
This modest house was built in 1911 with blocks of stones resulting from the excavation of the ground for the railway. It was originally thought to be inhabited by the workers of the construction of the railway in the town of Montreux, Switzerland.
In 2014, this 260 square meter project was remodeled by the firm Ralph Germann architectes. The space, located on a sloping slope, offers a breathtaking view of the Alps, Lake Geneva and the Riviera.
The renovation of the building by the architect Ralph Germann shows visible signs of the transformation in the exterior facades. Completely empty, the building maintained its original design, the central staircase with its walnut and wrought iron fence. This construction that originally housed three apartments was opened to unite all the floors of the house, now concentrated into a single home.
To strengthen the link between the levels, the architect came up with a creative solution. The load-bearing walls on the staircase were opened to insert open concrete elements, built at the site from molds. Responding to the demands of thermal and acoustic insulation, the creation of these concrete openings proved to be a very effective solution. Heat, light, and sound pass through, allowing family members to communicate from one floor to another. In addition, these cavities also serve as storage spaces.
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- Side view of the construction
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- Entrance with glass and wood door
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- Small lounge area in neutral colors
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- Living room sharing spaces
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- Relaxation area
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- Kitchen in concrete
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- Kitchen with access to the terrace
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- Dining room in wood
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- Single room
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- Bathroom area
A Holiday Home Full of History
By Magaly • Oct 8, 2018
This house, located on the top of a mountain in Marušići, Croatia, is a holiday home designed by the firm Studio Ante Murales d.o.o. in 2016. The architects Ante Nikša Bilić, Sunčica Mastelić Ivić and Hrvojka Kalogjera were responsible for carrying out this project, which covers an area of 270 square meters.
The conditions of the microclimate and the view from the site determined the design of the building. But the same applies to the materiality and tactile properties of the house. The cubes are made of concrete and are related to the rocks of the Biokovo mountain range due to their color.
The traditional construction of small rural houses in this area involves the construction of the whole building with a single material. As such, this home was mainly made of stone, and the roof was made of stone slabs. This practice resulted in beautiful functional units of spaces that were either open or covered by vines and tiles.
And as the people in charge of this project say: “To direct a space to live in, the space must be filled with us. I wanted to protect myself from the sun, to protect myself from the wind, the rain and the cold. I wanted all the windows and openings to be full of the sea.” Their wishes are now a reality.
