Aatrial House, Opole, Poland by Robert Konieczny

architect : Robert Konieczny
collaboration : Marlena Wolnik, ?ukasz Pra?uch
site area : 10 057 m2
usable floor area : 659,57 m2
volume : 2 055 m3
design : 2002-2003
construction : 2003-2006

Location

Designed by Robert Konieczny, The Aatrial House is situated in Poland, close to Opole. Majority of low density settlement in the surroundings is formed of “cube – houses”, buildings typical for the 1970’s.

Idea
One hectare site near the forest, where the building is designed has only one weak
point: south-western access. An obvious conflict develops between the driveway and
the garden. The idea arose to lower the driveway in order to separate it from the
garden. This prompted another idea - of a driveway leading inside to the ground floor
level, from underneath the building, which became possible thanks to the creation of
an inner atrium with the driveway in it.

New type of the house
As a result, the building opens up onto all sides with its terraces in an unrestricted
manner, and the only way to get into the garden is through the atrium and the house.
This in turn has made it possible to obtain a new spatial model of the house, which is
the reverse of an atrial building. The aatrial house is closed to the inside and opened
to the surroundings.