Country House Sets a Low Profile for a Lakeside Polish Retreat Home
Country House sits in Poland, conceived by IFAgroup as a house that hews to village scale and a calm lakeside rhythm. The project reads as a deliberate low profile, spreading across an 8000 m² plot with terraces turned to water and forest. It steers clear of monumentality and draws warmth from reclaimed timber and planted roof, creating a measured retreat shaped by the land.
A quiet horizon line meets the lake. The roof carries a soft green crown while the façade keeps to the height of neighboring gables.
This is a house in Poland by IFAgroup, planned as a low-slung dwelling that respects village scale and the lakeshore’s long views. The plan follows the site’s lower ground level and peat-laden soil, using mass where it helps and retreat where it should. Context sets every move.
Settle Into the Land
The plot lies roughly 2.5 meters below the road, so the building tucks down and lets the landscape read first. A restrained portion rises only about 1.4 meters above grade where peat layers discourage deeper load, turning the buried retaining wall into stored warmth along the cooler edge.
Read the Village Scale
Neighboring roofs carry simple gables, and the house keeps pace with that familiar rhythm. Reclaimed demolition boards from an old barn lend grain and memory to the exterior, their weathered texture catching light in the breeze and tying the new volume to local heritage without pastiche.
Orient Life Outdoors
Daily life pivots between two terraces, east to the lake and west to the forest. Morning coffee faces water and long light; evenings drift to the quieter edge, where trees hold shade and wind breaks allow conversation to settle.
Glaze What Matters
Sleeping rooms take their cue from traditional local openings, with composed window groups that balance privacy and view. Communal rooms lean into larger panes, stretching sightlines over the lake so interior and shore trade reflections through the day.
Build for the Long Term
A reinforced concrete structure holds steady against the wet ground and supports a flat roof planted as a green terrace. That living layer deepens insulation and invites small habitats to the roof plane, turning an often-empty surface into useful climate armor (and a quiet perch when the sun is out).
Inside, furniture and art gather around a few clear notes. Red beams and railings thread through the rooms, adding a warm counterpoint to concrete mass and timber grain without shouting for attention.
By afternoon, the low eaves temper glare and the terraces take on a slower pace. The house doesn’t chase spectacle—its stance is measured, its materials grounded, and its outlook shaped by water, forest, and the village it calls home.
Photography by Hanna Polczynska (kroniki.studio)
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