Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2023
Blended Into The Forest Residential House
- A' Design Award 2023 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Z3z Architekci
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 26,230
- Verification code 745D3C933E · Verify this award
About Blended Into The Forest Residential House
House Blended Into The Forest is a building that was created in the surroundings of an old pine forest with respect for nature. The basic assumption when designing this house was to integrate it into the existing trees and unite it with the forest. This idea was realized thanks to the use of a material that seems to be alien to the forest, i.e. sheet metal. The implementation showed that the house almost grows out of nature. The interior of the house is white and green dominates it thanks to large windows.
Situated within the evolving tradition of contextual modernism that seeks harmony between built form and natural environment, Mateusz Zajkowski's Blended Into The Forest Residential House exemplifies a sophisticated approach to dwelling that honors both contemporary architectural clarity and the primordial human desire for shelter within nature's embrace. The work demonstrates remarkable sensitivity in its material palette selection, employing the warm organic presence of horizontal timber cladding at the human-scaled entry level while the upper volumes adopt cooler corrugated metal surfaces that echo the grey trunks of surrounding trees, suggesting an architecture that grows from and responds to its woodland context rather than imposing upon it. This material dialogue achieves particular resonance in the twilight hour depicted, when the warm interior illumination radiating from within transforms the dwelling into a lantern among the trees, evoking archetypal associations of hearth and home against the encroaching darkness of the forest. The compositional framing through ivy-wrapped mature trees invites contemplation of temporal scales, these patient botanical columns having achieved their verdant mantles over decades while the architecture appears as a considered intervention within their established domain. The generous glazing dissolves conventional boundaries between interior sanctuary and exterior landscape, proposing a mode of inhabitation where the changing seasons, shifting light, and forest atmosphere become continuous presences within domestic life. The hydrangea plantings and pristine lawn suggest careful landscape stewardship that mediates between wild forest and cultivated garden, establishing transitional zones that ease the passage from nature to architecture. One might observe how the work participates in broader contemporary conversations about sustainable dwelling, biophilic design principles, and the psychological benefits of visual and spatial connection to natural systems. The viewer is invited to consider how architecture might serve as a frame for experiencing nature rather than a barrier against it, and what modes of living such integration might nurture.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- When starting to design the house, the designers of Z3Z ARCHITEKCI faced the task of putting the building between the trees, so that as little as possible of the existing beautiful old tree stand had to be cut down. Together with the client, they found a clearing on a plot, which they chose as a spot for the house. It was also a part of the later discovered vision for this plot from the State Forests.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The house is 329 square meters and consists of two floors.
- Tags
- house blender into the forest, polish architecture, sheet metal, wood, landscape
- Production Technology
- The house is covered with almost black sheet metal. Fixed to the brick structure of the building with steel connectors and a wooden substructure. Places sunk into the body of the house were covered with cedar wood. Thanks to its construction, the garage door has been hidden behind wooden boards. The ascetic interiors are covered with white plaster on the walls and a concrete floor.
- Design Challenge
- It was a challenge to choose a material as alien to nature as sheet metal with conviction. However, the designers rightly decided that such a seemingly strange combination would be the best solution for a beautiful forest. The effect left no doubt, it was a very good choice.
- Project Duration
- The project started in 2016 and finished in 2018. The building was completed in 2020 and is located near Warsaw, Poland.
- Operation Flow
- Contact with nature while at home is one of the most important assumptions of this project. The house and its surroundings have been designed so that the users are constantly surrounded by green pictures through the windows of the house. Interaction with Nature and its changing character is the meaning of the interior space. Nature is the most abundant in children's rooms. The whole longer wall of their rooms is made of glass. Thanks to this, the green almost almost enters the interior.
- Research
- Nature in the first place was one of the main assumptions. The works largely consisted in cutting down as few trees as possible and squeezing the building into empty spaces of the plot. Considerations about the material, the connection between nature and industrial material, occupied a large part of the project. As a result, the designers noticed that the vertical divisions of the dark sheet metal harmonize well with the surroundings
- Inspiration
- On one hand, the difficulties of building the house in the forest and on the other, the desire to preserve as many trees as possible, contributed to the fact that the house almost becomes one with the forest. The use of seemingly unlike to the natural landscape material, such as sheet metal, was a great decision. It is hard to imagine any other material to better match the house with the surrounding nature.
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Photographer Marcin Mularczyk, 2020
Image #2 : Photographer Marcin Mularczyk, 2020
Image #3 : Photographer Marcin Mularczyk, 2020
Image #4 : Photographer Marcin Mularczyk, 2020
Image #5 : Photographer Marcin Mularczyk, 2020
Video Credits: Julian Morytko, 2020