A sculptural house in Łódź

Re: VMax House in Łódź, Poland was designed as a sculptural dwelling by REFORM Architekt, a Polish practice founded and led by architect Marcin Tomaszewski.
The building, a single-family home set in a lush private garden, pursues the ideal of perfection. A small compact volume with a square base and a side length of 13.5 metres, it draws its powerful personality from the imposing, almost graphic white V-shaped sides that stand out against a completely black background.
The house is built on a steeply sloping 1,500 square metre plot of land, its two-storey interior layout adapted to a height difference of 8 metres. In view of the elevation and the location of the entrance, the interior layout reversed the usual rules of space and function. The driveway and pedestrian entrance along with the entire living space are located on level 0 overlooking a green area, while the sleeping area occupies the lower level with direct access to the garden.
The 300-square-metre interior consists of a variety of spaces designed for a sheltered but luxurious family life. The upper level is open on all four sides. At the rear is a double garage with direct access to the service areas: the boiler room, the pantry and a changing room/cloakroom. At the front, a large open space houses a living area which communicates with the dining room and open-plan kitchen and faces onto a long terrace with full-height windows looking out onto the garden. The upper ends of the large
V accommodate enormous 6-metre-high windows that allow large quantities of light to flood into the interior.
The pedestrian entrance is located laterally with respect to the main façades and also leads to a small, totally independent service apartment with a single bedroom and bathroom.
The central space in the house is occupied by a single-flight linear internal staircase leading to a partially underground lower level that looks out only on one side and houses a sleeping area with exceptional service spaces. The staircase landing leads directly to two single bedrooms looking out over the garden, served by a bathroom and a laundry room. On the opposite side, the private master area consists of a bedroom with a large walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom with sauna connected to a gym. There is also a working space with an office.
The exterior of RE: VMax House is dominated by the alternation of black and white, where Italian ceramic tiles have been used to create a spectacular sculpture effect. The large V stands out against the glossy black background thanks to the use of 1 x 3 metre, 3 mm thick large-format tiles from Laminam’s Collection line, produced specially for this project in a solid, absolute white colour.
As Marcin Tomaszewski explains, «Inspiration to create a single block can be found anywhere. But the best inspiration comes from people, from nature and also… from the complex and challenging shape of the plot of land set aside for the construction of a house. This was the case with VMax House, where the sloping terrain determined the final shape and functionality of the volume. The result is not just an interesting shape, but also a house where the functional layout is reversed!»