Reviving Traditions: Dmitry Pozarenko's "Barn by a River"

Golden A' Design Award Winner Transforms Childhood Memories into Eco-Design

Dmitry Pozarenko's "Barn by a River" is a guesthouse with swimming pools, located in the village of Kadnikovo in the Ural region of Russia. The project, which began in May 2013 and was completed in September 2015, is a testament to Pozarenko's commitment to creating architecture that exists in harmony with the landscape. The design was inspired by images of old stone barns, forest streams, summer kitchens for open-air cooking, apiaries, and towering pines by the river - all elements that form the interaction between humans, home, and nature.

What sets "Barn by a River" apart from other designs is its adherence to the traditional archetype of a house, brought to the asceticism of its forms. The cedar shingle of the roof and green schist walls blend the building into the grass and bushes of the man-made landscape. Inside, luxurious granite floors and mahogany walls fulfill the ecological focus of the project. The main image of the house is the versatile natural landscape outside, visible through a glass wall that reveals the rocky riverside.

The house's realization technology is equally impressive. Trusses of the ridgy roof and the bearing pads are made of laminated beam, while the walls are made of dark-green schist with embedment of the mortar. The roof is shingled with larch, and the inside-pool deck is reveted with Juparana Tiger granite. The open swimming pool, made of polished stainless steel, sparkles like a forest stream, adding to the illusion of the pool deck being carved out in a cliff.

The design also ensures complete privacy for the housing areas, with the spa area located between the main house and guest house. This dimensional scheme allows for the avoidance of crossing of the owners’ and guest groups’ lives. For instance, if the owner decides to use the swimming pool at 6 a.m., it won’t bother any of the guests.

Despite the challenges of creating a new image for a country house and overcoming traditional stereotypes, Pozarenko succeeded in creating a project that values non-violent architecture and denies the idea of “forced harmony”. The "Barn by a River" project meets the challenge of creating inhabited space based on ecological involvement and suggests a specific local solution to the problem of architecture and landscape interpenetration.

The project's excellence was recognized with a Golden A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award in 2016. The Golden A' Design Award is granted to marvelous, outstanding, and trendsetting creations that reflect the designer's prodigy and wisdom, advancing art, science, design, and technology, and significantly impacting the world with their desirable characteristics.