Case study · Residential development
Updated
Four houses on a plot whose geometry ruled out a conventional subdivision.
01 · Starting point
One large plot with unusual geometry, a skew and an irregular outline that made a conventional subdivision impossible.
Instead of dividing it along the line of least resistance, we laid the scheme out from scratch: one repeatable house in three garden variants, plus a separate villa deep in the site. Maximum sellable area with no compromise on privacy.
- Project
- Villa Aksa
- Client
- ARTIS Development
- Location
- Warsaw, Wilanów
- PUM
- 1260 m²
- Number of houses
- 4
- Type
- Residential development,
premium segment
02 · Context
An address where three districts meet. Mokotów, Wilanów and Ursynów. A location that is a selling point in itself.
The problem was the geometry. A skew and an irregular outline made a conventional subdivision impossible, and without a repeatable layout the development lost both on design cost and on predictability of delivery.
On the face of it the site did not suit several houses. The question was how much could actually be got out of it without dropping below a premium standard.
03 · The geometry of the plot
Problem
A skew and an irregular outline ruled out a conventional subdivision. On a plot like this it is hard to get both a repeatable building type and a sensible plan.
Solution
The client bought the neighbouring land, which opened up new ways of dividing the site.
We designed houses of equal floor area, differentiating them by garden size as the ground itself dictated. Hence the consistency of the volumes, the logic of the layout and the maximum sellable area, on a plot that appeared unsuitable for several houses.
The geometry of a plot need not be a constraint. More often it is information nobody has used.
04 · Privacy
Problem
How do you keep everyday comfort when the houses stand close together? The site was narrow, and we wanted to use its potential to the full.
In conditions like these it is easy to end up cramped, or with a layout that reduces the real value of the development. And a premium buyer will not accept a compromise on privacy.
Solution
We closed the volumes where they meet the neighbours and opened them where each house has its own green refuge. Nobody enters anybody else’s field of view, and the gardens work as a natural barrier.
Maximising sellable area is not a reason to compromise, it is a reason to design more intelligently.
05 · One design, different gardens
Problem
How do you make a development that looks coherent, answers different needs and does not require three separate designs? The plots created differed in size, and the conventional approach would have meant three sets of drawings, three floor areas and three construction budgets.
Solution
Three houses to the same design, differing only in the size of the garden. They are detached houses, each on its own plot: here the repeated volume reads as the coherence of a small neighbourhood, not as a copied semi-detached.
The fourth house, a separate villa deep in the site, is the most exclusive item in the offer.
- One set of drawingsinstead of three
- Predictable costthe same volume, the same budget
- Three price pointsset by the size of the garden
- The villa at the backa separate item in the offer
06 · Result
Good design decisions are not a matter of taste. They are money.
A plot whose geometry ruled out a conventional subdivision became a development with four houses and four different propositions for buyers, from the repeatable house with a smaller garden to the separate villa at the back of the site.
07 · Who it is for
This works for an investor who:
- has a difficult plot: an odd shape, or dimensions that look unpromising,
- needs a solution that is not off the shelf,
- wants to be sure they are using the full potential of the site.
We will work out what fits on your plot.
Let’s talk about your developmentThe first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
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