Located on the Northern Sea shore in Poland, this modern house comes to replace an older existing building that didn’t meet the owners aesthetics. Studio Ultra Architects was entrusted with this project, which is situated on a sandy soil just behind the beach dunes, with high ground water levels. The foundation had to be very solid and waterproof, so the most obvious material to use was concrete. The architects chose to make concrete one of the main materials all throughout the house, together with wood and sheet metal. The facades of the house are clad with vertical timber planks, while the interior is mainly in raw concrete. The main feature of the concrete is its treatment which makes is look like grey weathered timber. Except for the great visual impact, both on walls and ceilings, the concrete, usually perceived as cold, gets a warmer dimension. The house is composed of three levels, the first one being underground. On this level there is the indoor pool and the technical rooms, while the day area is set on the ground floor and the night space on the first floor. The flat rooftop is protected with a glass balustrade and serves as terrace and great spot to enjoy the scenery.
The wooden decks that surround the house on two sides are protected from the weather by sail-like tensioned shades. Another detail that is present all throughout the external side of the house are the graphite color metal window frames.
The new house was built on the exact footprint of the old demolished buildings, as the owners wanted to preserve all the pine trees on the property.
The interior design is sober and minimalistic. The grey wood textured concrete walls and ceiling give the place the warmth of a mountain chalet. This feeling is emphasized by the honey colored wooden floors and the central positioning of the fireplaces both in the ground and upper floor living-rooms.
The kitchen is consistent with the rest of the interior design, and the main material is graphite colored metal. The long counter and dining table, as well as the suspended hood are made of the same material, that we can also find in frames, doors and elevator structure.
A metal wire wall protects the staircase on one side from the lower floor all the way up to the rooftop terrace.
On the upper floor the owners have their quarters consisting of a lounge, a bedroom with walk-in closet and a bathroom. The lounge is dominated by a central glass and concrete fireplace, with a very interesting sunken fire wood storage system.
