House In White / UCEES

Architects: UCEES
Area: 490 m²
Year: 2024
Photography: Paweł Ulatowski
Lead Architects: Marek Szpinda, Piotr Uherek
Architects Team: Gabriela Doroż
Contractor: KROE (GRC façade technology)
City: Krakow
Country: Poland

The House in White by Polish architecture studio UCEES is a minimalist villa situated in Krakow’s prestigious Wola Justowska district. Defined by its sculpted concrete façade and geometric purity, the project reinterprets the modernist villa through precision and environmental innovation. Its white exterior, composed of fiberglass-reinforced concrete panels, merges craftsmanship with advanced construction techniques. Designed to harmonize with its verdant surroundings, the villa preserves existing trees and incorporates sustainable systems, including photovoltaic panels, rainwater harvesting, and heat recovery ventilation. The façade’s anti-smog TioCem cement actively purifies the air, transforming the residence into a quiet environmental statement. This union of restrained form and sustainable technology positions the House in White as a contemporary model of urban residential refinement in Poland.

The House in White rises in Wola Justowska, Krakow’s most exclusive residential quarter, often compared to Beverly Hills for its secluded greenery and proximity to the city center. Conceived by UCEES as a dialogue between architectural rigor and environmental awareness, the project manifests as a minimalist volume whose stillness contrasts with its intricate detailing. The architects pursued a form that is at once sculptural and contextual, a work that acknowledges its modernist surroundings without imitation.

From its inception, the concept drew on the archetype of the urban villa. The architects opted for a compact, flat-roofed structure that sits quietly among the trees, using the white cube as a starting point for formal exploration. Through a process described as “chiseling away,” the designers carved recesses, terraces, and concave planes from the solid mass, revealing spatial complexity within apparent simplicity. The resulting play of depth and shadow gives the structure a subtle dynamism that evolves with the daylight.

Concrete serves as both the medium and message of the design. The façade is composed of white cement GRC panels reinforced with fiberglass, allowing for sharp precision and sculptural continuity. The surface extends seamlessly from the base to the roof, unified by exacting connections that require no auxiliary materials. There are no metal sills or cornices to break the visual rhythm; only glass openings and a transparent upper balustrade interrupt the monolithic envelope.

Each joint, recess, and edge was resolved with meticulous care, revealing an architectural process grounded in craftsmanship. The façade’s panels connect like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, their three-dimensional geometry subtly modulating the light. This attention to alignment continues across the building’s details—from the rounded attic edges to the terrace outlines—ensuring that every component contributes to a cohesive visual language. Even the entrance gate and perimeter fencing reflect this discipline, extending the building’s purity beyond its walls.

The house’s form balances openness and enclosure. Its garden-facing elevations invite light and transparency, while the street façade remains more solid and introspective. These contrasting expressions create a sense of privacy without isolation. The architectural language remains consistent throughout: calm, deliberate, and exact.

Despite its minimalism, the House in White achieves a sense of theatricality through its cascading forms. Subtle shifts in height and projection guide the observer’s perception, animating the surfaces and revealing the building’s layered spatial logic. The rhythmic breaking of the façade lines accentuates this motion while maintaining compositional order.

Sustainability underpins the project’s architectural clarity. The GRC panels employ TioCem cement, a photocatalytic material capable of neutralizing nitrogen oxides in the air. This innovative application introduces an ecological function directly into the building’s skin, allowing the villa to contribute to cleaner air in its urban context. The technology, typically used in large-scale infrastructure, here finds an experimental role within residential architecture.

Complementing this material innovation are systems designed to minimize environmental impact. The villa integrates heat recovery ventilation, photovoltaic panels, and rainwater collection mechanisms. Its green terraces enhance insulation and promote biodiversity, while the careful placement of the building ensured that every existing tree on the plot was preserved. These measures collectively express a holistic approach to sustainability that transcends mere energy efficiency.

The project’s aesthetic restraint does not diminish its emotional resonance. Rather, it invites contemplation through balance and precision. The whiteness of the concrete, the softness of its rounded recesses, and the quiet continuity of its lines evoke an architectural calm rarely achieved in suburban contexts. The house embodies both permanence and sensitivity, standing as an architectural meditation on form, light, and material integrity.

The House in White represents UCEES’s commitment to a disciplined architectural ethos that values precision as a form of expression. It is not an object of display but a vessel of refinement—an architectural iceberg whose visible simplicity conceals layers of technical and conceptual depth. In merging minimalism with environmental innovation, the villa redefines the modernist lineage of Polish residential architecture for the twenty-first century.