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A module, a container, a trailer, a ready-made home… What to call it? Agnieszka, who is a newly graduated architect, bought a building, which was delivered to the address she had specified. They unpacked it, bolted all parts together and set it on piles – a good metre over the ground. All that without digging up the meadow, which Agnieszka is so proud of. What's more: the meadow can now pass freely under her floor.
The operation of erecting the house lasted four days. Now, after several weeks, the grass trampled by the workers managed to rise again, and the modernist villa looks as if it has been standing here for many years. Well, that may still be an exaggeration. After so many years, the rails installed in side elevations would be entwined with lush ivy, bindweed and sweet peas. However, at the moment the plants are only sprouting.
From the Factory to a Place Out of Town
The mobile dwelling modules that Agnieszka's home was made of are manufactured in a Kraków-based factory, which belongs to Polish Holding Group of Buma. The modules have different configurations. The described villa has the shape of an elongated "C", which was laid on its side. The so-called developer's finish standard included floors, glazed tiles, heating, fixtures and furniture, however, only that furniture which constitutes integral parts of fixed elements (walls, ceilings). All other, freestanding furniture, bed linen and curtains need to be bought in a regular shop.
Agnieszka, who is the owner of the described house, has for the first time seen such structures in London. It was with surprise, but also with pride that she learnt about part of a decent-sized housing estate for British key workers, which was manufactured in her home country.
Ms. Małgorzata Michalska, Buma's commercial director, remembers well the British project. They tried to rent a plane to transport the modules, but the only available one could take up to 9 tons of load, while a module weights over 20 tons.
A freestanding Duravit bathtub close to the window of almost invisible joinery looks like a ship ready to unmoor. That arrangement conveys the owner's attachment to luxury, also the aesthetic one. It turns out that a house of a maximally simplified form has much space for extravagance. For the play between right angles and rounded surfaces, between civilization and nature. Just like in a contemporary art gallery.
Finally they shipped their modules on lorry trucks. 900 kilometres from the factory. The only things that got broken during transportation were… a few chandeliers. All the rest reached the British site in a perfect condition.
Also in Poland the modules travel on lorry trucks. The integration of modules on site lasts not more than 4 days once the…parcel? has been delivered. – "The parcel? Well, one can say so," smiles Ms. Michalska. Agnieszka has discussed with her all, even most trivial details, like the colour of glazed tile joints in the bathroom. All those requests and instructions of the investor were later put into a specification, which was sent to the factory.
The house cost 960,000 Polish zlotys. Yet the shipment to the site was free, since the company makes free deliveries of their modules within a radius of 300 kilometres from Kraków.
What Will Happen in 60 Years?
When asked about the customers' reactions, Ms. Michalska says that she was sometimes startled with their questions. However, she answered all of them. "People want to know whether snow will not be accumulating on the flat roof, thus causing a damage," she tells. So she explains that there is a special membrane, on which the snow melts and flows down the gutters. The roof itself is strong enough to allow walking on it. One can arrange a comfortable terrace, or even a garden there.
What matters, is whether the building can fit in the access road. "This is something that we also take upon ourselves," replies Ms. Michalska. "Before we proceed with all the works, our people come to the site to verify the ground and check the access possibilities. The road must be minimum 5 m wide. Otherwise, the "parcel" may get stuck."
The Lady of the Sunshades
Agnieszka is not going to plant a lawn on the roof. It is enough for her to have a low, large terrace, from which one can enter directly the meadow. She likes to sit on sun-heated boards. When there is too much sun and it interferes with her reading or design work, she lowers the sunshades. Of course, by means of a remote controller. "It's hard to imagine a pretty far out home without a professional, multi-function remote controller," she says..
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