Project: Contemporary Pavilion Residence
Architects: Pitsou Kedem Architects
Lead Architects: Hila Sela
Design: Irene Goldberg, Pitsou Kedem
Location: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Area 300.0 m2
Project Year 2017
Photography: Amit Geron
Although from afar it seems one-leveled, this contemporary pavilion residence – which sits on a platform that rises 60cm above ground level – has another level dug underground.
Its structure resembles a tent on stilts – eight frames of steel poles and beams, set in two-meter intervals, hold the concrete ceiling and frame the central space, reaching 3.85m high. Around the layout of poles and beams the house is enveloped with wide windows held in place with a surrounding steel beam (in which various systems are concealed).
A ribbon window situated above the beam makes the ceiling seem to float (another ribbon window, set in the gap between the platform and the house, illuminates the basement). More natural light enters through a rectangular internal courtyard at the heart of the house, completely open to the sky and surrounded with glass walls that allow sunlight to reach the basement floor.
This abundance of natural light is framed with four thick walls, one on each facade – that delineate the house’s different areas (the entrance wall, the living room wall, or the main bedroom). These walls are covered in a thin layer of slate planks placed one slightly overlapping the other. This arrangement of planks sets the tone of the house’s overall design – the window openings in the walls, the texture of the internal walls and the carpentry items, the flooring slabs and the garden planters.
