In Kościelisko, a village at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, BXB studio Bogusław Barnaś has designed a residence that reinterprets the traditional architecture of the Podhale region through a contemporary vision of the relationship between home and nature.
The House with a Private Giewont pays tribute to the well-known hiking trail that leads to the summit of Giewont, translating that experience into an architectural journey that extends through the entire house.
The House with a Private Giewont: Connection to place
The house takes its name from one of the region’s most distinctive peaks, Giewont – also known as the “Sleeping Knight” for its silhouette and a folk legend about an army of knights that sleeps in its caves, ready to awaken to defend the nation.
The project continually reinforces its bond with the landscape, beginning with a distinctive symbolic and visual connection to the mountain that is constantly framed by its openings and views. The home reinterprets the traditional shepherds’ huts of Podhale, translating their proportions, materiality, and relationship to the landscape. At the same time, it makes an explicit tribute to the Tatra Mountains with colors, surface designs, and materials that evoke the surrounding scenery.
Made of large stone slabs recalling mountain trails, the entry path introduces the narrative experience.
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A changing shell
Externally, the house reads as a visually unified volume with a titanium-zinc sheet roof – a durable material that reflects the rocky grays of the landscape. The façade is defined by custom-made folding screens, whose perforated pattern and white finish recall both the snow-covered peaks of the Tatra Mountains and local decorative motifs.
The screens are automated, opening as needed or closing to transform the building into a protective shell. After sunset, lighting turns the house into a lantern that casts soft light through the perforated screens. A garden of local rocks and mountain pines deepens the dialogue with the landscape.
Interiors as a mountain trail
The idea of walking a trail is echoed in the home’s vertical organization, anchored by a black steel structure that spans its levels and is visible from almost every room, including the garage through its glazed ceiling.
At the symbolic trailhead, a suspended walkway crosses the double-height living room, passes through the glazed end wall, and extends outward to form a panoramic platform below the roof ridge. Supported by three slender steel cables, the walkway incorporates a metal guardrail that dissolves into an entirely glass structure.
The best views of Giewont are from the living areas on the upper floors, where a large glazed wall frames the mountain as part of the interior experience, intensifying the project’s emotional dimension.
The House with a Private Giewont achieves a balanced fusion of alpine tradition and contemporary innovation. With its essential materials, dynamic envelope, and experiential architectural journey, the house establishes a profound relationship with the mountain, transforming life in the home into an ongoing dialogue with the Tatra landscape.
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