Aleksandra Przybyla
2021-2023 works
Architecture & Interior Design
“There is no doubt whatever about the influence of architecture and structure upon human character and action. We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.”
Winston Churchill, October 28, 1943
I was gaining experience at Studio BARDZO, a multi-disciplinary design office based in Poland, where I was creating interior design projects: from building inventory, functional plans, and mood boards to construction documentation and execution. Additionally, I was a part of the team creating space branding projects that connected graphic design with architecture. From flat surfaces to three-dimensional installations.
After that I started to work as a freelance interior designer, developing my design process strongly conned to communication with the client, to respond to specific needs in the best way possible. Bringing creativity into the space, and making it functional, beautiful, and simply yours.
My wide history of university education comes from my curiosity about all fields connected to architecture. From the smallest scale to the whole building. But the main question is always: How space is affecting a human being? How to make it better?
Wroclaw University of Science and TechnologiesI believe that design is the act of responding. Understanding the needs of an individual person while focusing on the surrounding environment and anwser to them with empathy and all gained knowledge. To create something extraordinary.
This project’s main assumption was to create an alternative habitat to modern housing. To make spaces, where we can live together, not having every equipment we need just for ourselves. We can share objects, we can share spaces. We can create better apartments while opening for other people surrounding us. By the reduction of private areas, we have made plenty of space for semi-private or public spaces, allowing people which live
there to coexist in their common building. It is extremely important to think about people living there because, with a good design program, they can help each other making their lives simply easier. Taking, and giving, from one to another.
The residential area is surrounding the central plaza, which is open for every type of social activity. This land is surrounded from one side by big factories, which is making a big contrast with the way of living in the housing development. Showing, that we can do better than that.
The interior is designed to be a minimalistic, but comfortable space. Bedrooms are placed on an entresol to separate the sleeping zone from the rest of the apartment. Two independent living units are combined by a common kitchen with a dining table. Each segment is equipped with a storage area and a greenhouse, to grow fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs. The ground floor is fitted out with sliding doors, so opening for other housemates is always adjustable. The unit is designed for a single person, a family, and a person with a
disability. Because of that everybody can choose a place, that fits them. On the first floor between the bedrooms are placed open spaces with terraces. The roof provides a shadow for a comfortable chill zone, there is also a possibility to join terraces by the footbridge, to make aboveground communication.
We have private dorms, semi-private kitchens, storage and glasshouses, and fully public common spaces in the middle of the area. There are placed containers for exchanging different goods, and a big lawn between them. It can be a place to make events or meetings, for example, daily yoga sessions. The square is complemented by an open amphitheater which can be also used for outdoor cinema. Close to the street citizens have access to bikes, scooters, or electric cars. The paths are created in a way that enables the neighbors to join the life of the community.
The goal of the place was to create a space focusing on children’s needs. To deeply understand their requirements and dreams and to give them a building that they can treat like a tool. A tool to discover the world and satisfy the need for curiosity. A safe spot with a lot of new opportunities every day. It is based on three cornerstones: science, art, and nature. To provide them with safe and regular interaction with surroundings and the natural world, to stimulate creativity by showing unorthodox ways of creating, and to transfer the knowledge with a personalized approach to every single child.
nauka sztuka natura
Biophilia is defined as the inherent human inclination to affiliate with nature. Biophilic design, an extension of biophilia, incorporates natural materials, natural light, vegetation, nature views, and other experiences of the natural world into the modern built environment. It seeks to connect our inherent need to affiliate with nature in the modern built environment.
A school is placed between the trees. Creating a connection between people and nature. Respecting the rules of biophilic design.
The convention of wood coming into the interior of the building is motivated by the existing land. It has been used as a park for citizens in the neighborhood, even though there was no organized infrastructure, just a place full of trees. That is why the building is not closed for this idea, the borders between inside and outside are blurred, and they intertwine with each other. On the ground floor, we have a sliding door, which can be open depending on the weather, so it is possible to invite nature to open-spaced common zones.
On other floors there are balconies, so the lessons are not only supposed to take place at classes but also on these outside terraces. The whole building is focused around two spacious patios where children can rest during the breaks, walk through instead of normal corridors or just notice extraordinary light coming through the glazing with wooden labels. One of them has stairs that lead to a big terrace on the top of one segment of the building.
shirin yoku
the Japanese practice of “bathing” oneself in nature with the intention of receiving therapeutic benefits
The ground floor is the most representative one. We have a teachers’ zone there, just in front of the main entrance, including the principal’s office and a secretariat. Behind them, there is the main lecture hall, also adaptable for a concert hall or school theater. Next to that, there is a gym, with all the needed rooms for pe teachers, and a cloakroom for students. On the right side, we have a kitchen with the canteen, where kids can rest and eat their breakfast or lunch. There is also a big sphere for chilling, some kind
of open library with a chill zone. Between them, there are special stairs leading to the quiet library upstairs. The open parts are fitted with movable doors, so there is a chance to expand them with the space next to the building.
According to the first assumption a school is not only about learning, but also shaping personalities and creating mindsets. That is why there should be plenty of not-only planned space, but space left for human beings to develop.
Big halls and staircases, inside patios with lawns, spacious lockers for personal stuff. Many walls to paint, a big lecture hall open for everybody, and plenty of space to use on the ground floor. These are just a few places left to the children, to make this school a living space. The main materials are wood and concrete, to show them how tradition and the future can combine. But no decorative plasters, just natural raw materials. Not hiding the construction parts, on the contrary: showing them clearly, making every part of the building an educational possibility.
Aleksandra PrzybyłaThree floors construction provides includes all of the functions and rooms required for the school. As we can see the building is created from two intersecting cuboids, with two patios inside of them. This came from the loudness of the zones, on the left we have more creative sections, such as music classes, and gym. In contrast on the right are placed classrooms, libraries, etc. That is a functional way to reconcile these rooms in one building, with no harm in using them. Two sides are joined by a shared staircase, which comes through all of the floors.
On the first floor, we have class workshops and art lessons. An entrance to the Aula from its top part, and also an audience for the gym. There is also a big library on the right side, with big windows overlooking the forest. On the third floor, we have plenty of classrooms arranged around the patio. There are also doors leading into a big green terrace on the roof. The classroom’s windows are covered with wooden panels, that can be moved depending on the direction of the sunshine. That provides access to natural light, not hiding it completely.
While an emergency we have to react fast and effectively controlled. That is why we have to adjust the design to the basic needs of people while the crisis. This construction can be executed on-site by 4 people within 4 hours. To help.
An open Closet is a housing unit designed for refugees coming from Syria to Rukban Refugee Camp. A concept is to create an emergency shelter that is as fast and easy to assemble as possible, while at the same time being affordable, simply structured, and easy for transportation and prefabrication. The house can accommodate up to 6 people since that’s the average number of members of a Syrian family.
The Rukban camp is located in an isolated and inhospitable border area known as “the berm” where 70,000 Syrians who fled the war arrived in 2016 to enter Jordan. Rukban is a dry, isolated region near the Syrian border in Jordan’s far northeast.
Additionally, the closets are packed with basic equipment including medicine, hygiene supplies, mattresses , blankets, clothes, household items and tools enabling the refugees to start new lives in the camp. The Open Closet dimensions are calculated for standardized transportation on a truck trailer.
The house has a usable area of 24,38 m^2. It is constructed of honeycomb sandwich panels that are lightweight, affordable, and provide sufficient thermal and acoustic insulation. Thanks to the use of adjustable feet the unit can be located on different grounds.1. honeycombsandwich panels 2. stainless steel construction 3. blankets, carpets, materials 4. sunking home 60 solar panel
The unit consists of 2 closets that after opening up create a space to live. The closets contain all the elements that are needed to build a house, such as floors, walls, roofs, windows, and doors. Additionally, the closets are packed with basic equipment including medicine, hygiene supplies, mattresses, blankets, clothes, household items, and tools enabling the refugees to start new lives in the camp. The Open Closet dimensions are calculated for standardized transportation on a truck trailer.
The color palette was created with the intention to complete the mood created by natural materials. They are soft, and natural and create a very calm and mindful atmosphere.
One of the most important aspects of this project was to create an interior design, based on Japanese values. That is why we used some very characteristic themes, taken straight from the culture, as a part of the tradition, but still adapted to modern designs. They express a minimalistic vibe, with strong attention to the detail.
Zabuton are floor sitting cusions, Zaisu are chairs with no legs, Chabudai are special short tables.
Special sliding doors made of wood and paper sheets, brings delicate light inside. Movable and adaptable.
Created mood boards is showing the review of samples used in the project. Based on the chosen color palette and existing surroundings, they are reflecting the intention to create a calm, relaxing space. Warm tones reflect the sunshine coming through the windows, natural fabrics are breaking the structure of raw concrete walls.
Species of used wood are characteristic of different regions of Japan, and ceramic pieces come directly from small studios nearby Tokyo.
Paper sheets so characteristic in the history of that country are applied in window curtains and standing lamps. All are completed by tones of green appearing in plants and flowers arranged in beautiful Japanese ikebanas.
beige fabrics
paper sheets
black iron
The living room is the beating heart of the house, created in a way that allows people to spend their free time together in there.
Six meter-high windows are facing the south, bringing lots of light to the interior. They are movable, just like the shoji screens, providing the opportunity to open the space and connect it with the zen-inspired garden landscape. The big white b&b italia sofa can easily seat many people to enjoy the closeness of the outside beauty.
On the second floor, we have an entresol with a wall fully covered by books, creating a peaceful library corner. Additional value is achieved by many art pieces, hanging on the walls and standing on special pedestals.
It is all covered by the wooden ceiling, which is so characteristic of Japanese modern architecture.
This area is separated into three parts, each one has its own function, but they are coexisting together, providing excellent experience while using them.
The kitchen’s main material is warm oak wood, beautifully contrasting with the raw concrete and white fabric of the dining chairs. Hidden behindthe-wall tea room allows you to celebrate your tea time in a special place, framing the greenery in a wooden frame window.
Japan has a big story when we are talking about bathing. They have this special thing called onsen which are hot springs and bathing facilities with geothermally heated water filled with minerals. With a good connection to the hot spring source, it is possible to adapt this culture to the project.
The onsen part of the bath is covered in hinoki wood, specially prepared by a manufacturer near Tokyo, that is resistant to water and aging while keeping the appearance of natural wood.
It is also material for the ofuro bathtub which is precisely sculptured by a special craftsman.
The rest of the bathroom is covered with stone-looking tiles, corresponding to the color of the concrete. The black soapstone countertop is holding a raw stone sink, and the rest of the decorative elements are made from smoked wood.
There are not many elements in this room, keeping it clean, but on both sides of the bed, we have side tables appropriate for book lovers, with a few floating lamps, providing a special changeable light. In the corner, there is a low table, with a round mirror, and a pouf to make a make-up routine comfortable. On the right side is a huge closet to contain all wardrobe pieces.
Sleeping zone in a very minimalistic mindful vibe. Natural whites, beiges, and greys automatically bring the mood of weightlessness providing a perfect atmosphere to calm down.
The stairs from downstairs are leading directly to the roofed area, with a minibar arranged specially for small gatherings and morning coffee meetings. It also has storage space, to hide all the furniture from the area, in case of bad weather.
In the open zone, there is a cinema corner, with a projector and a few comfortable seating, covered in white leather. Next to it, there is a yoga space with a wooden floor and a chill zone with a huge linen sofa. Everything is needed for the rest and sunbathing experience outdoors.
This rooftop terrace is based directly over the living room, creating this open-air version of it. It brings many additional functions and definitely stands out from the neighbors around.
Aleksandra Przybyla