A house by the river

A renovation of a modernist recreational cabin built in 1981 during a deep economic crisis and martial law period in Poland. The floors are low: 215cm in the groundfloor and 250cm in floors above. Designed for an ambitious local militia commander it was never used to be discovered in 2018 by a couple walking the dog along the river. The clients fell in love with house’s form and decided on renovating a structure made out of stolen materials, including tram rails that served as beams. The process took 7 years, including the pandemic during which my client worked on almost all parts of the building. Our aim was to discreetly hide it in the foliage and blend it with the forest instead of making the form’s presence to obvious and appealing.