Hasta La Ideas

The curved wings of this house in Kuwait converge around an outdoor swimming pool (photos by Nelson Garrido).

Designed by Spanish-Kuwaiti studio AGi Architects, the three-storey house comprises two curling blocks, each with cantilevering upper storeys.

An access corridor creates a spine through the centre of the building, providing entrances at both the front and back.

Other projects by AGi Architects include a house that emits a cooling mist – see more here.

Here’s some more text from the architects:

Mop House

The site can be accessed from either side of the surrounding streets to allow for both a private and a public entrance. After moving along a curved wall that guides the visitor from the exterior of the plot into the center, one reaches the main entrance into the house.

Upon entering through the main door frame, the space opens up to reveal the swimming pool and the public living areas of the house.

The form of the residence is reminiscent of the movement patterns of a mop, from which flexible volumes are organized diagonally around a central axis.

This axis twists upwards to generate spaces that are channeling the vision in different directions: the front side of the house, side gardens and angles of the back street.

The circulation surrounding the patio on the first floor contrives of a succession of living spaces, which not only communicate to one another, but also relate visually the interior of the patio to the exterior.

The first floor overhangs to shade the rooms on the ground floor, and the patio is designed to define a break in between the volumes of the house, which subtly reveals a side garden.

The residence was originally planned to house one family with two small children, however in the future it could be divided into two units. The structure of the house and the distribution of the circulation, as well as the positioning of the entrances and lift allows for guaranteed privacy between parents and children in the prospective future.

Type: Housing | 1300 sqm
Location: Kuwait
Date: 2006-2011
Client: Private
Cost: Confidential

Design Team: Joaquin Pérez-Goicoechea, Nasser B. Abulhasan
Architectural team: Gwenola Kergall, Georg Thesing, Lucía Sánchez Salmón, María Eugenia Díaz, José Ángel del Campo, Daniel Muñoz Medranda, Hanan Alkouh, Nicolás Martín
Engineering: Babu Abraham, Abdul Hafiz Mohammed
Drafting: Robert Varguese, Naseeba Shaji
Consultants: Arturo Macusi, Joseph TomasInterior Design: AGi architects
Supplier: Gunni & Trentino