Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2026
Barn Quartet Single Family House
- A' Design Award 2026 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 16,642
- Verification code 837D357FE8 · Verify this award
About Barn Quartet Single Family House
Barn Quartet is a one level residence composed of four barn like volumes arranged on a spacious plot near Tarnobrzeg. Each pavilion serves a defined role: a parents wing with bedroom and gym, a children and guest wing with garage, a living pavilion and a detached hunting lodge. Large glazing frames views of the surrounding pine landscape, while a north side canopy provides sheltered access. The composition organizes functions through clear zoning and balanced proportions, creating a calm connection between interior spaces and the natural setting.
Katarzyna Starzyk's Barn Quartet Single Family House represents a distinguished contribution to the contemporary discourse surrounding vernacular reinterpretation within residential architecture, demonstrating how traditional agricultural building typologies may be thoughtfully transformed to serve modern domestic programs while maintaining profound connections to regional landscape and building heritage. The work appears to engage with the long tradition of barn-inspired dwellings that has flourished particularly within Northern European and Scandinavian architectural practice, where the honest expression of gabled volumes, natural materials, and contextual sensitivity has produced a rich lineage of buildings that honor rural precedent while embracing contemporary spatial expectations and technical innovations. The compositional strategy of deploying multiple pavilions connected through lower linking elements suggests a sophisticated understanding of how to achieve residential scale and domestic intimacy while creating visual interest through volumetric variation and material contrast. The designer demonstrates particular accomplishment in the handling of threshold conditions, where the illuminated timber portal of the primary volume creates a warm welcoming gesture that transforms the archetypal barn opening into a ceremonial entrance sequence. The material palette reveals careful calibration, juxtaposing the industrial precision of standing-seam metal roofing against the handcraft associations of brick masonry and the natural warmth of timber cladding, creating a dialogue between efficiency and craft that enriches the dwelling's experiential qualities. The landscape integration, featuring naturalistic ornamental grass meadows that blur boundaries between cultivated garden and agricultural field, extends the architectural composition into the surrounding terrain, suggesting that building and site exist in reciprocal relationship. The work invites viewers to consider how contemporary architecture might honor inherited building wisdom while serving evolving patterns of dwelling, and how the simple poetry of the barn form continues to resonate within collective imagination.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The villa is formed by four barn inspired volumes, each dedicated to a specific purpose within a single level layout. The parents pavilion includes a master suite and gym, the second wing serves the child and guests with utility rooms and garage, the central pavilion contains living areas with wide glazing, and a detached hunting lodge supports leisure and quiet work. Together they create privacy, comfort and a coherent architectural composition connected to nature.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The residence provides a usable area of 422.85 square meters with a building footprint of 571.75 square meters, situated on a plot of 4046 square meters. The layout consists of four barn like volumes: a parents wing with gym, a childrens and guest wing with garage, a central living pavilion and a detached hunting lodge. A north side canopy offers parking for two cars and sheltered access to the home.
- Tags
- modern barn villa, four barns residence, single level pavilion house, contemporary homestead, luxury family villa, barn style architecture, rural inspired design, landscape integrated house, modern residential design, polish architecture
- Production Technology
- The villa was developed using four coordinated barn style volumes linked by functional connectors. Exterior walls are planned as double layer structures finished with ceramic tiles, HPL panels or wood. The house uses a heat pump and a mechanical ventilation system with a high efficiency heat exchanger. Design work focused on clarity of functions and coherent spatial composition.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenge was to design a low profile villa that fits local surroundings while organizing complex functions across four volumes. Ensuring privacy between the parents and child wings required careful positioning. Integrating a hunting lodge as a fourth pavilion without disrupting cohesion demanded precise spatial balance. Technical decisions focused on efficiency and spatial clarity.
- Project Duration
- The project was designed in 2024 for a site near Tarnobrzeg on a plot of more than four thousand square meters. Construction began in 2025 and the villa has already reached the closed shell stage with roof and windows installed. The location and scale of the site influenced the decision to create a single level residence composed of four barn inspired pavilions arranged to frame views and ensure privacy.
- Operation Flow
- Daily life flows through a central living pavilion with kitchen, dining and lounge areas opening to the landscape. The layout separates parents and child zones for privacy, while the connector hall organizes circulation. A lookout point from the kitchen enables observation of the arrival route. The north side canopy allows dry access to the house and the hunting lodge supports leisure and quiet work.
- Research
- The project is based on applied research into single level residential layouts and multi volume rural typologies. The objective was to identify how four distinct functional units can create comfort and privacy for a family of three. Analysis focused on zoning, view axes and outdoor transitions. The outcome demonstrates that a four pavilion structure improves usability, clarity and long term comfort.
- Inspiration
- The villa was inspired by the ambition to create a single level residence composed of four barn style volumes on a generous plot near Tarnobrzeg. The concept sought to balance rural calm with modern comfort while keeping the architecture discreet in scale. The arrangement of the pavilions reflects the need for privacy, functional clarity and strong connections to the pine landscape, creating a home that blends naturally with its surroundings and supports a harmonious daily rhythm.
- Image Credits
- visualizations and renders Dawid Milecki
- Patents
- Katarzyna Starzyk