Monika Gała-Walczowska

Design studies in the field of searching for modern architectural space of a single family house led by Mies van der Rohe in 1920s and 1930s, have survived as drawings – sketches, plans, perspectives and photographs of models. Projects of the Brick Country House (1923) and the Concrete Country House (1924), the urban Court-house and the House with tree courts (1934) and drawing studies of the Moutain House (1934), although they have never been realized, had a great impact on development of modern architecture. The drawings illustrating the architecture of the houses are a breakthrough in thinking about a creation of a place, about living space, about a relation between inside and outside. They permanently went down in history of architecture, still being an ispiration for new generations of contemporary architects.

Architecture of a contemporary single-family house fits in a pluralistic reality of the latest architecture. The main goal of contemporary architecture seems to be searching for originality and aiming for giving an individual character to buildings and places. An architectural form of a house, a choice of materials and a composition of elevations reflect architectural temperament of a creator and correspond with two dominating, contrary trends in contemporary architecture – minimalist and expressionist tendencies. The attempt to join a discussion about contemporary housing architecture has been made based on two examples: Bohermore House and Villa Panorama.

Contemporary architecture, perceived as a work of art, uses the abstract language of geometry in search of completeness, harmony of proportions, contemporary concept of beauty and, above all, novelty, and originality of forms and architectural composition. The architecture of contemporary single-family houses is based on Euclidian geometry, as well as its transformations and decomposition. The character of the architecture is also created by the material, in case of the houses discussed here – concrete. The architectural form of a h ouse, enhanced by construction and plastic qualities of the building material, often creates high quality architecture, representing architectural poetry.