Orphanage & Mountain Shelter in Bieszczady Mountains in Poland is a graduation project for Warsaw University of Technology by Artur Stępniak, an architecture student specializing in architectural drawings. His project aims to create a space for a large family, providing adequate conditions for child development in a family atmosphere. Additionally, the building is to support local hill walking and provide possibilities of popularizing the idea of ecology, self-sufficiency and creativity among the users.

Bieszczady mountain range is a terrain being constantly changed and transformed. The touristic popularity of the region grows, thereby the need of greater amount of object enabling proper tourist receiving increases. Unfortunately, this kind of objects do not fit in the growing standards of the guests, due to the fact the owners cannot afford the costs of renovations. It is a vicious circle. The fewer the tourists, the less the money for new object maintenance.
-Artur Stępniak

Hence the idea to design a shelter, which fits high-quality expectations of a modern tourist, would also be more resistant for financial problems and granting adequate conditions for development and shaping young pupils of the orphanage. What the family orphanage really is and why join it with a tourist shelter? From the formal way, the family orphanage is a so called family care center, under the same ruling as an ordinary, big educational care facility.
-Artur Stępniak

The aim of such object is to provide complete care and create conditions for normal development of the charges until the moment of maturity. The purpose of existence of such institutions is to raise children with safety, trust and love.
-Artur Stępniak

Bieszczady is a special region on the Polish and European scale. Because of different historical events and its geographic location, the region, even nowadays, is quite wild and barely claimed. It can be noticed that by the intercourse with the rawness of local wild nature and because of the living difficulties, people dwelling and traveling through Bieszczady develop an incredible kindness, will to help and resourcefulness. The life in those regions is built upon mutual cooperation. Upon such mutual cooperation, I also intend to build my project.
-Artur Stępniak

During the design process I was concerned over the ensuring, that the building provided maximum comfort for the parents and the pupils, and could provide an additional income for the parents, in form of using part of its space for touristic purposes. Moreover, the project is to improve and to complement the touristic infrastructure in the surrounding area.
-Artur Stępniak

About Artur Stępniak

Artur Stępniak is an architecture student at the Warsaw University of Technology. His main passion and hobby is drawing. He specializes in architectural drawing. Open-air drawing gives him particular pleasure, it taught him to synthesize and to draw quickly and with clarity. See more of his work on Behance.