The single-family house in Jastrzębia Góra by Archmondo is a single-story house arranged in an L-shape, with its wings connected by a connector that discreetly conceals the entrance. The volume defines a sheltered courtyard with a green terrace, protected from the street by a wall. The main living area and bedrooms have direct access to the courtyard through large windows and sliding glass doors. The south wing features a single space combining the kitchen, dining room, and living room, while the west wing houses the bedrooms and private areas.
The large glass openings, the height of the ceilings, and the layout of the spaces create interesting and comfortable spaces with natural light and favorable ventilation. As a bioclimatic strategy, a subtle cantilever was implemented along the volume to mitigate sunlight.
Exposed materials dominate the exterior of the house, with the use of fir, concrete, metal, and granite. Inside, a neutral color palette was used to complement the coastal setting.
House in Jastrzębia Góra by Archmondo. Photograph by Jakub Certowicz.
Project description by Archmondo
Set on the edge of a forest less than a kilometer from the Baltic Sea, House in Jastrzębia Góra is both a retreat and a reflection of its surroundings. Designed by ARCHMONDO, the Gdansk-based studio founded by Piotr Kowalczyk, the project distils the vision of a family who traded big city life for the quiet rhythms of a coastal village. Their brief was disarmingly simple: a one-story home that would be functional, bright and honest in form.
The site itself dictated much of the architecture’s logic. Framed by trees and open to the sea breeze, it called for a structure that would blend into the landscape rather than rise above it. Architects responded with two elongated volumes of slightly different lengths, arranged in an L-shaped plan. Joined by a minimalist connector that discreetly hides the entrance, the composition defines a sheltered courtyard with a green terrace screened from the street by a concrete wall.
The house references the archetype of a barn, its form refined into a contemporary, measured silhouette. Vertically laid spruce cladding wraps the façades, ageing naturally over time, while a twin-pitch roof in light grey metal echoes the tones of the Baltic horizon. The clarity of the geometry is a careful balance of tradition and restraint.
Oriented south and west, the living and bedroom wings open wide to the courtyard through full-height glazing, allowing sunlight to flood the interior throughout the day. Oversized windows and sliding glass doors provide direct access to the garden from every bedroom and the main living room, blurring boundaries between inside and out. A subtle, sculptural overhang runs along the glazing and entrance zone, tempering the sun and giving the façades a refined, linear accent.
At the heart of the house lies a single, spacious room combining kitchen, dining and living areas beneath an open ceiling. It is the meeting point of the family’s everyday life — a bright and lofty space that encourages togetherness. The second wing houses the children’s rooms, arranged in sequence and extended by compact mezzanine levels beneath the roof, turning them into playful private zones. The main bedroom also adopts an open ceiling, expanding both air and light.
Natural materials dominate throughout. The use of spruce, concrete, metal and granite creates a continuity between the building and its surroundings. Inside, a muted colour palette complements the raw, coastal climate: soft greys, gentle browns and the natural texture of timber contribute to a calm atmosphere.
Every architectural decision in the project – from the shape of the roof to the position of openings – follows the logic of function and light, with no gestures for show or excess. The composition of two intersecting volumes creates a mix of openness and intimacy: a place to gather and a place to withdraw.
House in Jastrzębia Góra exemplifies how modest architecture can create powerful space. Without monumentality, it directly answers its place and its people. True to ARCHMONDO’s philosophy, it is architecture guided by logic and emotion in equal measure, designed to age gracefully alongside its precious landscape.
