If you can’t move the house to the forest then bring the forest to the house! This is the principle that Polish Mode:lina Architects used when they created the interior design concept for this urban concrete house. When they were entrusted with the project, the house was built already but left in its raw stage. Which came in very handy, as the architects loved the concrete elements and built their concept around them. Their aim was to keep the space as open as possible while having very distinctive areas. And as they could not divide the space with vertical partitions, they obtained the same effect by treating the horizontal surfaces differently. On the ground floor the space is divided into kitchen, dining room and living room through a smart use of materials on floor and ceiling. The kitchen is delimited by concrete floor and ceiling, the dining area has the same concrete ceiling but the floor is covered in wood, and the living room has the same wooden floor as the dining room but the ceiling is painted white. A flight of raw concrete stairs goes up the upper floor of the house, where we find the night area. At the end of the stairs, instead of a balustrade there is book-shelving system that contains the owners growing collection of books. The night space is divided into the master bedroom with its en-suite walk in closet, the child’s room and the bathroom. Together with the concrete, wood is the other material present everywhere in the design of the house, in various shapes and states, some more processed, some straight out of the woods.
Hanging above a quite rustic and antique wooden dining table, this custom-made chandelier is one of the first hints to the forest, a motif that is present throughout the house. Along with the sliding pantry door made of raw looking wooden planks, they introduce the eye to the “nature” of the house.
The stairs are an important visual element of the house, and their are treated as such. The structure is left raw concrete, and the top of the steps is covered in wood. Moreover, the first 3 steps are completely covered in wood to mark a visual threshold.
The staircase is kept essential, the materials are raw and there is no hand-railing to disturb the picture. At the top of the stairs there is an industrial looking wood and metal bookcase that also play the role of a balustrade.
The child’s room is kept neutral with white cupboards and lots of elements that recall nature: a grass looking carpet covers part of the wooden floor, there are representations of animals and of leaves. The white swing seems to be hanging from the branch of a tree.
The lady of the house wanted something special about her walk in closet, and the architects came up with a partition wall made from wooden planks installed like trees and fabric. The access from the bedroom is made via a “secret” door, represented by a full height mirror.
The bathroom is covered in white mosaic, with small splashes of black, like the playful octopus on the back-splash of the bathtub. As it is the only bathroom in the house, both a shower and a bathtub have been fitted in. The floor is partly covered in the same white mosaic, partly left in concrete.
