Hasta La Ideas

Mist cools the courtyard of this house in Kuwait City while also shielding it from prying neighbours (photos: Nelson Garrido).

Named Secret House, the detached residence by Kuwaiti firm AGi Architects is located in the densely developed Shuwaikh district.

The mist operates on a timer, surging up around the house both to keep it cool and to mask it from the street.

Living areas and bedrooms inside the house are distributed across the ground and first floors while a garage occupies the basement.

The body of the house circles the steaming garden while bridges and staircases cross it from the first floor.

A covered terrace on the second floor overlooks the Kuwait City skyline.

Architecture and mist have been popular partners lately on Dezeen – see our earlier story about a mist-releasing water feature by Tadao Ando.

More stories featuring Nelson Garrido’s photography on Dezeen »

The following information is provided by the architects:

Secret House

Kuwait’s urban fabric mostly consists of detached single-family homes highlighting a clear example of city-sprawl. To adapt to the desert climate, the distances between the built volumes are minimal, resulting in shaded spaces between houses. These spaces that work well as temperature regulators result in facades with little privacy and limited views. This creates an added challenge to create projects with personality that are not based purely on an exercise in façade design.

Given these circumstances, our focus was to design a home that expresses the clients’ needs, clearly marking the buffers and transitions that any guest could understand. There are guided routes, hidden areas, exposed areas that are all expressed through the architecture, rather than signage. We want the house from the street to be seen as a resounding permeable volume, that is not transparent, however friendly yet private.

Physical barriers can be seen in varying degrees impeding passage or vision to reach the large opening on the upper terrace that allows you to see through the house. From the inside, the barriers become the volumes that open onto the guests, the rooms that dominate the spaces on the upper levels, defining the spaces below them.

The search for an understanding of the nature of an Islamic family culture living with a Western lifestyle has shaped the overlap of concepts and is reflected in the relevance of the major pieces in the facade, privacy and sun protection.

This house was a very peculiar request. Typically the client has a specific program and an actual site, and our job is to make the two complement one another. In the case of the Secret House, the client was occupying the given site in a house that neither met their aesthetic desires, nor their programmatic needs. This design thus becomes a personal expression of their present conditions, and at the same time creates a space capable of holding their hopes for the future.

It is a place with great potential, with wonderful views of the city, and a family who wants privacy. We plan to design a system that would unify these requirements: a house that looks towards the inside and only at the top level opens up to views towards the skyline of the city.

In this case we had only one street-facing facade, and only from there could one look onto the horizon without being seen. We have placed more public activities on the ground floor, where as you enter, you find a guest living area that is away from the other rooms. On the other side, after a circulation buffer, you find access to a family living area that connects the backyard with the central garden.

On the upper floor, rooms are positioned according to privacy and importance, alternating with areas for daily family use. From this level, a staircase runs through the courtyard and leads up to a more private space with a large covered terrace that opens out on the main façade. This allows you to enjoy both the city skyline and the sea view at the horizon in a private, shaded and lush landscaped area.

Type: Housing | 2600 sqm
Location: Shuwaikh B, Kuwait
Date: 2010
Client: Private

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Silence by Tadao Ando and Blair Associates	Cloudscapes by Tetsuo Kondo Architects and Transsolar	Emergency Exit by Kurant and Wasilkowska

This corner house by Sophie Valla Architects and Marc Koehler Architects is the latest of 670 architect-designed homes to be completed at a new development masterplanned by architects MVRDV in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Called Twisted Corner, the home is part of the Nieuw Leyden district, located on the site of a former slaughterhouse. See more Dezeen stories about houses in Nieuw Leyden.

The house comprises three floors that differ in plan to create the irregular angles of the facade.

Grey panels in graduating shades give the false impression of a shadow on the house exterior.

More stories about Dutch houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Luuk Kramer.

Here are some more details from Sophie Valla:

Twisted Corner

In Leiden (Netherlands), private commissioning was chosen for the development of the residential area Nieuw Leyden on the former slaughterhouse site. For the house in the corner plot that the studio Sophie Valla Architects was asked to design, the corner was chosen as starting point and inspiration. The end result offers the inhabitants an unexpected sense of space and changing views.

For this high density area bordering the city centre, MVRDV in Rotterdam conceived a master plan based on a double ground level: closed building blocks on half sunken parking-lots. This allowed for a densely built neighbourhood, but green and with little traffic. A common coordinator, contractor and advisors worked on each building block. Then each plot owner was able to design his house according to his own needs and wishes.

The house was built for a young family. From the beginning, the value of the corner position of the plot was fully exploited. The clients were extensively involved in the conception and building process, watching over and nourishing the tectonic quality of the design.

The lateral façade of the house ending the block presents an intriguing and dynamic play of lines and volume. This is brought about by shifts in the orientation of the façade at each of the three floors. A ‘transformation’ of the geometry of the front and back façades over the length of this side is thereby created. Four supporting columns in the house are freeing the lateral façade from its load bearing function, enabling this free play.

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The horizontal transformation is accompanied over the whole façade by a vertical articulation of the surface panelling and of the window frames. The high and narrow windows on this wall not only emphasise the vertical articulation; from the inside they also give clearly framed views while their form limits the possibility of looking in.

On the ground floor, bordered by a pedestrian street and the park, is a playroom for the children. The living space is on the first floor. The large window at the front looks into the park, creating a spacious quality inside and offering interesting perspectives to the park.

Materials

The façades were executed with prefabricated wooden frame panels.
Panels of Eternit in different shades of grey were used to cover the façades. The distribution of the greys accentuates the flowing transformation on the lateral façade and reduces the cutting loss of the Eternit to a minimum. The extra thick seams between the panels, as well as the heavily profiled wooden window frames, accentuate the vertical articulation of this façade.

Private house in Nieuw Leyden, Leiden

Address: Alexander Gogelstraat 6, 2316 DV Leiden
Client: Floor en Barry Pepers
Design: Sophie Valla architects in collaboration with Marc Koehler architects
Project architect and realisation: Sophie Valla architects
Team: Wouter Hendrikson, Petr Ulrich
Construction advisor: Buro Broersma
Installations advisor: S&W, van Leeuwen
Contractor: KbK Bouw
Bruto surface: 233 m2
Netto surface: 122 m2
Completion: February 2011

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V-House by GAAGA	V35K18 by Pasel Kuenzel Architects	V21K07 by Pasel Kuenzel Architects

You can walk up one curved staircase and down another in this family home in Kitakami by Japanese architect Yukiko Nadamoto.

Both stairways ascend from the double-height living area, leading to first-floor bedrooms that are linked by a stepped bridge.

The wood-framed home is rectangular in plan but the living area resembles a jigsaw-puzzle piece thanks to the curved internal walls.

More Japanese houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Seiya Miyamoto.

Here are some more details from the architects:

House in Kitakami

This house, located in a quiet residential neighbourhood in Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture, was built for a family of four.

The client wanted a home that consisted of “a single, unified space that would accommodate the separate, individual activities and pursuits of each family member, rather than an open, continuous space that integrates the living room, dining room, kitchen and terrace into a single room.”

These requests played a major role in our design process.

Architects: Nadamoto Yukiko Architects
Location: Kitakami, Iwate, Japan

Project architect: Yukiko Nadamoto
Structural engineer: Umezawa Structural Engineers

Structure: Wooden Structure

Project Year: 2010 – 2011
Floor area: 141sqm

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Usuki House by Tonoma	Cube House by Shinichi Ogawa	House in Hieidaira by Tato Architects

This metal house on stilts by Spanish architect Arturo Franco projects over a river valley in central Spain.

Named Casa Paz, the house perches over the valley on steel legs and can only be accessed from the top of the valley where it almost touches the ground.

The house was completed back in 2006.

More Spanish houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Carlos Fernandez Piñar.

The following information is from the architects:

Casa Paz is located in a housing development built in the 60’s, approximately 70Km. outside of Madrid. The area is considered a conventional residential zone, of no specific architectural interest, built using heterogeneous topologies and materials. The housing development, called Rio Cofio, is located on the outskirts of the village Robledo de Chavela; there at the edge of a cliff, a 1,400 m2 steeply sloped lot overlooks a small river. The property is accessed by a road that runs right above it. Directly in front, facing west over the valley, the mountain rises again, creating a natural park that is especially protected.

When we first saw this lot, we felt it essential to be able to reach this area with the house; to be able to hang in the middle of the valley, suspended at the top of a tree, almost at the other side, listening the murmur of Cofio River directly below. From here, we had to resolve a technical, functional and, mainly, economical problem. The need to work practically without any resources led us to sharpen our wits and to administer the work ourselves, subcontracting all of the professionals one-by-one. None of them (all local trade professionals), nor any of us, had run into such a structural problem as this one when building a house before.

How could we build this there without financial backing and achieve a unique space for the two people that were to live there? We began to think: an iron structure like those of the visionary Russian Constructivists, a work by Tony Carr, a chair by Shapiro, a piece by Max Hill; something heavy and light at the same time; gravity, an issue; the scale, an instrument to work with; a large table or a small ship.

In the end, we were searching for a linear house with a rise to it. The straight line and an interior staircase with 90 cm. deep steps as in a garden, reuniting all functions. Below it, a small therapeutic pool, 2 m. wide by 10 m. long.

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The entire design is developed inside a metal, “cubic like” structure (parallelepiped) clad with a skin stretched sheet metal (deployé), resting on a reinforced concrete base – the container for the pool water and for the gas, heater, water treatment tanks, etc. The guts of this iron artifact, where all vital fluids are concentrated. All of this, more than 15 meters above the river. Nine HEB 300 carry the load the ground. These columns are the only contact the house has with the ground.

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To maintain structural equilibrium and a certain gravitational logic, the house is suspended 5.5 m. over the river without any support, and the same amount is projected towards the road, where there it ends up being only 40 cm. above ground at the entrance. By doing this, a balance in weight is achieved; apart from placing the heavy elements over the cement frame, thus lowering the center of gravity.

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The crane that was available only reached 18 m., that is only as far as the concrete box. We were not going to be able to construct the cantilever that projected out towards the river. The solution consisted in erecting the entire metal cage and then sliding it into position over rails using manual winches, as if it were a train.

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In short, this house in which Paz and her husband Tomas presently live was an adventure and we are grateful to them for their trust and courage. It is a home with which, according to them, they wholly identify.

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Arturo Franco, as architect of the team, working with Fabrice van Teslaar, architect, and Diego Castellano, interior architect and work coordinator, had projected and constructed this dwelling. Casa Paz. Río Cofio Housing Development, Robledo de Chavela, Madrid.

Location: C/ DEL RIO, 591. URB. RIO COFIO. ROBLEDO DE CHAVELA. 28294 MADRID.
Preparation of the project and completion of construction schedule: January 2004-April 2006.

Project’s authorship: Arturo Franco. (architect), Fabrice van Teslaar. (architect)
Project’s collaborators: Diego Castellanos (interior architect)
Site Supervisor and Quantity Surveyor: Salvador Baños.
Developer/Owner: Paz Fernandez/Tomas Rodríguez

Cost per Square Meter: 280,000 euros. – 771 euros/sq m
Area or volume constructed: 363 sq m

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Torreagüera Vivienda Atresada by Xpiral	Ty Hedfan by Featherstone Young	Balancing Barn by MVRDV and Mole Architects

Tel Aviv architect Ron Fleisher has designed a house in an Israeli-Arab village that combines traditional Palestinian Islamic architecture with modernism.

The facade features Arabic mashrabiya lattice screens and vents at the top of the house allow breezes to circulate.

The house is entered through a double-height vaulted entrance hall, based on a traditional liwan, around which the private areas of the house are arranged.

The Agbaria House is located on a steep hillside in the village of Musmus in the Haifa district of Israel.

More projects in Israel on Dezeen »

Photography is by Shai Epstein.

Here are some more details from Fleisher:

Agbaria House

In a region where cultures usually clash, the house over the “wadi”(valley) in the village Musmus is a multicultural experience.

A cooperation between clients that asked for a contemporary architecture, but didn’t want to forget the memory of the village they grew up in, and an architectural firm based in Tel Aviv created a reinterpretation of Palestinian architecture.

The plan combines between traditional spaces, as the “liwan”- the entrance hall, and contemporary needs, as a TV room, and a formal dinning area.

It reflects the will to keep an independent Palestinian identity within the Israeli society.

The house is located on the top of a hillside overlooking “wadi ara”. The main entrance to the property is more than 17 meters down the slope.

Between the gate and main house a driveway curves in a reconstructed agricultural landscape.

The slope was divided with traditional terraces made from local stone collected in the families olive grove.

The driveway surrounds the white barn, a staircase climbs to the top of the building to a wide balcony viewing the valley and welcoming the vistor into the private living area.

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The house is in a dialogue with the natural landscape using classical Muslim elements as well as contemporary technology.

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The entrance glass wall facing south is shaded with an interpretation of a “Mashrabiya”.

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The “liwan” is ventilated with passive suction through shutters located on top of 3 vaults 8 meters high. The hot air is sucked out and replaced by a cool breeze. The main drawing room and the formal dining room open to a walled garden, colorfully framed by the white volumes.

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Casa Puglia by Peter Pichler	Fabric Facade Studio Apartment	Kiosque Saint-Nazaire by Topos Architecture