Cultural Identity in the Recreational Architecture of the Beskid Mountains

Recreational construction has developed in the Beskid Mountains in Southern Poland over the span of several decades, especially in the villages of Szczyrk, Wisła, and Brenna, known as the Beskid touristic triangle. This development has been very intensive due to the proximity of the industrial Silesian agglomeration. However, these newly constructed buildings, heterogeneous in appearance, do not reference traditional timber-and-stone sustainable architecture, instead replicating the aesthetics found in contemporary single-family houses throughout Poland or abroad. Inconsistencies in the building laws have strengthened this approach and led to a decline in the quality of the architecture and landscape, as the predominantly sustainable approach of traditional architecture based on local experience has given way to more popular, socially accepted solutions that do not fit the environment aesthetically or functionally. Although the development of recreational architecture in this region has been widely discussed in public media, publications on this topic remain sporadic and have generally focused on analyzing specific architectural solutions. This article therefore discusses the role of cultural identity in the modern recreational architecture in the Beskid Mountains as it has affected the well-being of the citizens of Silesia since the 1930s and continues to create a still-evolving, vibrant cultural phenomenon.