My Twin Brother’s House | Pitsou Kedem Architects

This rectangular residence presents a solid architectural concrete façade which appears to float along the entire length of the house, in effect turning its back on the neighbours. The other three façades are finished in two completely different and contrasting materials. The opaque ground floor volume boasts a blackened iron-look finish, while much of the second floor is encased in a system of vertical aluminum harmonica shutters with a wood-tone finish. The dynamic shutter system allows the filtering of sunlight without blocking airflow into and through the house, while also giving its residents the means to control their level of privacy in the different spaces within the house. The solid concrete wall to the front is in fact detached from the house yet connected to it along its full length through a run of skylight windows set in cast architectural concrete of diverse shapes, enabling light to penetrate into the full-height open space at different angles and create a dramatic geometric play of light and shadow on the concrete wall. In this space, between the exterior wall and the actual mass of the building, a linear open-tread white iron staircase gives open views from the basement all the way up to the full height of the home. The wooden slats found on the building’s side and rear facades are mirrored in a bamboo finish along the length of the ceiling of the open living area and then, towards the staircase, the bamboo lengths continue upwards to finish the exterior of the actual enclosing wall, further emphasizing the disconnection between the floating concrete wall and the rest of the house. An open white iron room divider/shelving system separates the stairs and the open space living areas and serves as a structural column system that allows the concrete wall to float above the run of windows extending along its length on the ground floor.

Design: Pitsou Kedem Architects in collaboration with Architect Tamar Berger

Lot size – 530 sqm 

Built up area – 500 sqm

Completion of build: 2022