Architecture Wednesday: Hilltop House

This home, in Poznan, Poland, was designed to combine the investor’s dreams of mountains, winter sports, cars, and architectural solutions into what resembles a modern barn, encased by three slopes of a green hill, and sitting at the edge of the woods.

The love of cars resulted in the three-car garage equipped with a car jack and yet they didn’t want a garage that overwhelmed the house; the solution was the green hill that wrapped over the spacious garage, the mechanical rooms and a small office. On top of the garage came the primary suite and bath in the shape of a cozy mountain hut that actually opens on top of the “hill.”

The designers combined simple geometrical forms and shapes with natural materials, like wood and concrete, dark metal sheeting and large glazed surfaces  that worked well with eh surrounding forest and meadows.

Hilltop House’s light and spacious interiors are thoughtfully illuminated, and its slanted ceilings together with the mezzanine overlooking the ground floor creates a space and airiness overhead. While the interior design is based on a limited and organic color palette, the daylight penetrating through the large-scale windows and occasional sunny spots on the concrete floors become unique ingredients of retreat-like ambiance of the house. This is especially found in the living room which is dominated by wooden and concrete elements that add elegance and rawness, while at the same time, the light and the views create that sense of being in nature.

I always love a black house—it’s so slimming, you know—and I love the modernity of this and the manmade hilltop upon which the house sits.

Amazing Architecture

Catholic Curia Suggests Rape Victim Enjoyed It

A Catholic curia—a group of Vatican bureaucrats who assist the Pope in the exercise of his primatial jurisdiction over the Roman Catholic church—in Poland has asked for a court to determine whether or not the rape victim of a Catholic priest took “pleasure in the intimate relationship.”

The victim, Janusz Szymik, was 12 years old when the abuse began and the Catholic Church wants to know if he enjoyed being sexually assaulted by a priest.

Last year, Szymik  launched a civil case against Bielsko-Żywiec diocese seeking roughly $1 million in compensation from the curia, which he argues is responsible for abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest—named only as Jan W. under Polish privacy law—in the 1980s.

A church court had previously found Jan W. guilty of sexual offences against Szymik, and in 2017, Jan W. was given a five-year ban on conducting priestly ministry, hearing confession, and was ordered to live in isolation.

Cut to today, and the curia, really the Catholic Church, is demanding  “evidence from an expert sexologist on the determination of the claimant’s sexual preferences, in particular determination of the claimant’s sexual orientation.”

And they would like to question Szymik on his relationship with the priest, including him “showing pleasure in maintaining an intimate relationship with Jan W.” and even “deriving benefits [from it], including material benefits.”

Victim blaming is a Catholic thing, unless the victim is Catholic …

The curia also argues that, although Szymik was an altar boy, because meetings between him and Jan W,--the adult—took place outside the church they were not related to Jan W.’s ministry.

Note to child raping Catholic priests: do it outside of the church and you’re safe.

The curia claims Szymik “participated voluntarily” in his rape because “the sexual contacts did not take place during the performance of the duties entrusted to him.”

Again, pedophiles, take your business outside and the church will protect you.

In response to the publication of the diocese’s legal submission, Tomasz Terlikowski, a prominent Catholic commentator, called the questions the curia proposes asking of Szymik are indicative of a “pedophile’s model of thinking” and will cause “the victim harm again.”

Again, keep in mind that Szymik is still suffering the effects of being raped by a priest when he was twelve years old, and that the Catholic Church thinks because he may have enjoyed it, or because it didn’t happen on church property, that it really didn’t happen at all, or just doesn’t matter.

Also keep in mind that child rapist Jan W. is suspected of raping other boys while a priest, and rather than being punished of jailed for his crimes, he is quietly living a life of seclusion on the Catholic Church’s dime because they care more about their image, and their bank accounts, than they do the victims of child sexual abuse.

Notes from Poland

Architecture Wednesday: Warm Wooden Garden Home

I picked this house because I love the exterior; I love the wood and the clean straight lines … and then you go inside, and it’s filled with light and just looks so peaceful.

The house, in Poznan, Poland is one level, making it easier to connect with the gardens and the several decks surrounding the home. The expansive glass walls bring in all that natural light to the interior where there are light white walls, but wooden floors and wooden ceilngs to bring some of that warmth indoors.

And at night, with the lights on, the house becomes even more stunning, with the light shining through the yard.

Serene and peaceful, small and simple, I think I’m in love. 

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Architecture Wednesday: Konieczny’s Ark

I don't know much about this one, except it's not on Mt. Ararat, and it doesn't have all the animals two by two.

But I love the simplicity of shape and design; and I love the avantgarde shpae and design, too.

It's an ark, of concrete, so I don't know how it'll float if the Great flood returns, but it's pretty sitting on the side of a hill.

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