Case study · Residential development
Updated
Two independent apartments in one volume, with nothing of the semi-detached about it.
01 · Starting point
Eight hundred metres from the pier in Orłowo, in a villa district where every new development is examined closely. In place of an old small house: two independent apartments in one coherent volume.
Separate entrances, separate gardens, separate sight lines that never cross. Neighbours do not look into each other’s windows, and from the street nobody sees a semi-detached house. They see a contemporary villa.
- Project
- Willowe Apartments
- Client
- Ekolan
- Location
- Gdynia Orłowo,
800 m from the pier - PUM
- 281 m²
- Number of apartments
- 2
- Status
- Built
02 · Context
Orłowo is one of the most sought-after districts in the Tricity. Villas, a modernist tradition, an address that sells on its own.
There was a small house on the plot. The developer wanted to use the potential of the location and get two independent units instead of one building, without the semi-detached look, and without dropping below the standard a buyer expects in this part of Gdynia.
The scale of the development is small. What is at stake is not: with 281 m² of sellable area, every mistake in the layout and every careless detail shows up immediately in the price.
03 · Two units without the semi-detached look
Problem
The developer wanted two units, but without the feeling of a shared house. Privacy: visual and functional: was the crux of it.
It could not look like a compromise, or like a row house out of town.
Solution
Two multi-level apartments with separate entrances, fully separated living areas and separate gardens.
Each unit has its own sight line, and the two never cross. The residents do not look into each other’s windows, and yet from outside the building reads as one coherent volume.
A division inside does not have to be visible outside. That is a design decision, not a compromise.
04 · Fitting into a villa neighbourhood
Problem
Orłowo is a context you cannot ignore: low, elegant buildings and a modernist character.
A neighbourhood like this leaves no room for arbitrary forms or a cheap effect, every new building is immediately measured against the ones around it.
Solution
Instead of showy gestures we went for proportion, detail and light. The building draws on the modernist tradition, but does not pretend to be a villa from another era, it is contemporary, clear and carefully resolved.
It will still look good in years to come. This is architecture that does not dominate its surroundings but becomes part of them.
05 · A premium standard in a segment that is not premium
Problem
Buyers here expect a lot: not just floor area, but quality, light, detail and comfort.
The design had to meet premium-market standards even though formally this was not the luxury residence segment.
Solution
Inside, we used solutions taken from projects a tier above.
These are details that raise the quality of daily life and the real value of the development at the same time.
- An internal patioa private garden seen from the entrance
- A tree on the entrance axisthe view that greets the resident
- The staircaselit from above by a rooflight
06 · Result
Good design decisions are not a matter of taste. They are money.
One small house in Orłowo became two independent apartments in a volume that looks like a contemporary villa, not like a building cut in half.
07 · Who it is for
Who does this work for?
- a micro-developer looking for a project at a scale they can actually carry,
- a family with an inherited house in an excellent location,
- an investor whom the cost of building a house has caught out.
Instead of one small house: two comfortable apartments, one of which can pay for the other. This is for people who think flexibly but are not willing to give up quality or looks.
We will work out what can be done with your plot.
Let’s talk about your developmentThe first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
Next case study: SPECTRE 3.0 This site in the diary: Gdynia, Orłowo All case studies