It was built in Wola Justowska. The white house has an unusual façade, which loosely refers to modernist developments. The building combines modern form with ecological solutions and attention to detail. No one will pass by such a designed building indifferently.
Wola Justowska, considered to be Kraków’s equivalent of Beverly Hills, is an enclave of elegance and tranquillity. This formerly suburban village has gained a reputation for its convenient location – it is relatively close to the centre and surrounded by greenery. It is here, surrounded by nature, that the White House was built – a symbol of modern ideas, precision workmanship and harmony with the environment.
Modernist inspirations
The future owner decided on a small plot of land in secluded Leona Chwistka Street, where there had previously been a dais-style building from the late 1980s. Instead of leaving the old building, he decided to demolish it and use the reclaimed materials to build a new building. This decision not only fits in with the idea of sustainability, but also adds a historical dimension to the investment. What’s more, the design of the old dais and two other nearby buildings is by the Cracovian Zbigniew Włodecki – an artist whose modernist villa from 1972 is adjacent to the plot and was the reference point for the new design.
The team of architects from the UCEES studio set themselves the goal of creating a building with a distinctive form, which – although distinguished by its strong character – would be able to harmoniously coexist with the surrounding architecture. The inspiration came from the work of Leon Chwistek, especially the paintings ‘City I’ and ‘City II’. The project sought the form of a typical urban villa – a building with a flat roof, compact but at the same time dynamically composed on a limited plot of land. The process of ‘subtracting with the chisel’ the successive layers of the cube allowed sculptural forms to emerge: a reduced upper storey, concave shells-lenses, recessed terraces and precisely milled details. The result is a development that surprises from the very first contact, while at the same time prompting a deeper reflection on form and its relationship with the surroundings.
Minimalist elegance
The usable area of the house is 490sq m, and its form has been shaped on a near-square plan – almost exactly replicating the outline of the foundations of the previous building. The main construction material is concrete. The façade uses multi-dimensional glass fibre-reinforced GRC panels, made of white cement, which cover the façade up to the roof. The result is a uniform white cube in which form, texture and precisely designed combinations of elements give the building a minimalist elegance. These elements – present both in the recesses, terraces and external fenestration solutions – only reveal their full effect from a close perspective.
White house and space
The White House project is not only a manifestation of modern design, but also a response to contemporary environmental challenges. Thanks to the use of the TioCem material in the production of the GRC panels, the building actively contributes to air purification – the photocatalyst removes nitrogen oxides, an innovative solution in single-family housing. In addition, the development has gained an additional environmental benefit by recycling materials from the demolition of the previous building and preserving the existing greenery, which enhances the natural landscape of the area.
The architects ensured that the building creates a kind of dialogue with its surroundings – an open form on the garden side on the one hand, and a more closed, monolithic expression on the access road side on the other. The protruding canopies, cantilevers and the varied texture of the facades are not only intended to give the building a dynamic feel, but also to minimise light reflection, which has a positive effect on the local fauna. In this way, the White House becomes a place where modernity, art and ecology work together.
Design: UCEES
Project authors: arch. Marek Szpinda, arch. Piotr Uherek
Author collaboration: arch. Gabriela Doroż
Usable floor space: 490 sqm.
Cubic capacity: 2,660 sq m
Completion: 2024.
GRC facade contractor: KROE Sp. z o.o.
Photos: Paweł Ulatowski
Also read: single-family house | Villas and residences | façade | detail | whiteMAD on Instagram
