GG House is located in Krakow, Poland on a steep, south slope. It was designed by Architeckt Tadeusz Lemanski to rise up from the slope on four columns that support not just the home but also a cantilevered terrace. With the garage on the lowest level and the social zone two flights up, the architects also designed GG House to include a vertical glass tunnel to house an elevator for easy access to all the volumes.
The elevator connects both the private and social volumes with the garage below, but access to the garage is hidden as the vertical glass tunnel disappears into the landscape.
The various terraces on the home’s facade are all interconnected due to an innovative design that uses a continuous geo-style framework of decks and privacy walls.
At night the terraces are lit up by overhead fixtures, while during the day voids within the extended roof line flood the terraces with natural light.
Entrance to the home is through an unobtrusive door to the left of the garage which leads to the elevator. There is another door which leads to the social zone above, accessed via the long flight of stairs on the side of the building.
The stairs lead up to an additional terrace on the side of the home.
With the elevator completely clad in glazings, the panoramic views of the distant River Vistula are visible from the side terrace.
The elevator opens to a second enclosed terrace on the side of the home. The living room overlooks this terrace via the row of square windows.
The living room is a large, open space located at the front of GG House with operable glazings opening up to the largest of the terraces.
A media wall is located across from the large and comfy sectional couch and a hallway beside the media center leads to the interior stairwell that connect the various volumes.
Behind the living room is the dining area, and beside that is the kitchen. The kitchen is a chef’s dream, outfitted with tons of storage and prep space.
The dining area is large enough for a 10-seat table and while the living room features a row of square windows, the dining area boasts one long uninterrupted linear window.
From the side of the house the dining room window follows the lines of the terrace, creating a continuum to the architectural void.
The dining and living terrace is much deeper then it looks thanks to its innovative design. There is plenty of space for dining alfresco, and with clear tempered safety rails the views are always front and center.
While the various terraces offer plenty of outdoor zones – there is also a surprisingly flat back yard at the top of the slope.
The backyard can be accessed from the same side terrace that leads to the social zone.
With GG House positioned on such a steep slope, it’s amazing how much outdoor living space Architeckt Tadeusz Lemanski was able to incorporate.
To create easy access to all the outdoor zones, the architects designed the entry stairs to have an underpass that connects to the far side of GG House.
Inside the home, the various volumes are connected with open riser stairs that feature tread lights on the wall and tempered glass balustrades. The treads themselves are deep set slabs of Walnut wood.
The open risers allow as much light as possible to flow through the various levels of the stairwell.
The first flight of stairs leads to the master suite, two additional bedrooms and a bathroom while the second flight of stairs leads to an open loft area. The loft opens up to the topmost terrace with a view of the sky – perfect for star gazing.
Architeckt Tadeusz Lemanski
Photograhpy by Tomasz Zakrzewski
