When designing a home, it’s not just about choosing colors, materials, or furniture pieces.– This is a process that requires forward-looking thinking,Deep thinking about the present and future lifestyle and adapting to changing needs.
How do you create a home that will still feel right in a decade or two? How do you maintain a design that will remain relevant, functional, and inviting even as the family grows and needs change?
The owners of this 330-square-meter two-level home approached this question with a clear vision. Despite their young age, they felt that this was the place where they wanted to grow old, and hence they sought to design a home that could accompany them for years, both practically and aesthetically. Together with architect Dudu Ben Gigi, they created a home that combines their love of entertaining and their dream of a living, present garden with long-term thinking and daily practice. How do you do it right? Let’s dive into the details.
Ofri Paz | Stanley Home
Choosing a timeless style
The homeowners, a couple in their 40s with three teenage daughters and two dogs, really love the international style of Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus buildings, and yet they aspired for the house to blend in with its surroundings on the moshav. The architect created a balance between the two concepts and designed a modest house, combining clean lines and urban materiality with warm eclecticism. The combination of styles and the avoidance of passing trends ensure that the house will remain relevant for years to come. From the outside, the building is modern and looks like a white cube that blends with a vertically cast concrete cube and windows highlighted with black iron profiles. Immediately upon moving from the street to the garden, you feel the material richness, the homely atmosphere and the unique character of the house, which are expressed in every detail – from the selection of vegetation in the garden to the works of art that adorn the walls of the house, which were carefully selected by a curator in full collaboration with the homeowner.
Natural materials
Throughout the house, a variety of natural materials in varied textures have been incorporated to create spaces with presence and a pleasant atmosphere. The use of wood, concrete, iron, glass and stone ensures an aesthetic that ages gracefully and respectfully and stands the test of time. Take, for example, the blackened iron stairs, which stand next to the living room and lean against an exposed concrete wall that serves as a backdrop for the TV wall, on which an impressive bookcase stands.
The library itself incorporates vertical elements from floor to ceiling that add a wood texture.
Among them are thin iron shelves, which reveal and emphasize the concrete wall, as well as several closed storage units for hospitality utensils. For the kitchen, a natural stone worktop was chosen, and the fronts of the tall cabinets were covered in veneer, which is made from several different fabrics to create a rich texture and changing shades. Natural materials were also chosen in the bathrooms, with each bathroom having a slightly different material. In the master bathroom, for example, a stone sink surface was combined with handmade mosaic cladding and an exposed concrete wall, which required special details for integrating the faucets and sanitary ware.
Photo: Oded Smadar
accessibility
“The house was designed and built with the idea that this is the home the couple will want to grow old in. Hence, practical consideration of accessibility, attention to practical elements, and user comfort over time were required.”
The architect explains.
He designed wide passageways and doors wider than standard sizes for them so that movement in the house would be comfortable, accessible, and fluid, with an emphasis on entering the house from the street and the parking lot and the parents’ unit.
The location of the parents’ unit on the ground floor was determined in accordance with the same approach and suited the couple both for reasons of accessibility and with the understanding that when the children grow up, they will leave the house and the ground floor will be the main space they will use in the future.
Planning the parents’ unit
We will stay in the parents’ unit, because its planning and design details demonstrate a great way to design a suite that suits the couple’s lifestyle today and will also suit them for years to come.
As mentioned, it is located on the ground floor behind the living room. Two impressive double doors, which connect wonderfully with the texture of the concrete wall, open in front of a foyer and a library, which plays a dual role – it divides the master suite into a closet on the left and a bedroom on the right, and behind it is the master bathroom. It also visually connects to the shelving unit in the living room – “When the doors are open from the living room, there is the illusion that it is a continuation of the library in the living room and the unit becomes an integral part of the visual richness of the public space,” explains Dudu. Parquet adds warmth to the room, and a wide display case wraps the space in shades of green from the well-kept garden.
Photo: Oded Smadar
Customized details
Another detail worth mentioning in the master suite is the door between the sleeping area and the bathroom, which was designed following a request to bring as much natural light as possible into the bathroom, which has a relatively small window.
The door, which was custom-designed and made by a carpenter, combines grooved wood and glass, ensuring the privacy of the residents and bringing natural light inside.
This detail is an example of creative thinking that allows the home to continue to be comfortable and relevant well into the future. Other examples can be seen throughout the house, and the elegant joinery units stand out, such as the work area located in the living room that can be hidden when entertaining using pocket doors.
Effortless hospitality
The homeowners enjoy entertaining and the public spaces inside and out were fully adapted to this – “One of the requirements was to maximize their enjoyment of hosting friends and family.”
“They wanted to design diverse entertaining areas and the house would always be ready for entertaining without the need for special preparation,” explains the architect. This principle can be seen, for example, in the choice to forgo an island in the kitchen and replace it with a large, spacious dining table. “In their eyes, an island creates a disconnect, so we chose to go with a central table that is a family and main meeting point in the house,” adds Dudu.
The table was even designed at a slightly lower height than standard to create a more pleasant and lounge-like feel, and impressive light fixtures were hung above it to emphasize its presence. The kitchen was designed with plenty of storage space alongside two sinks, two dishwashers, and a separate pantry accessed through the kitchen. In the living room, the sofas faced each other to encourage conversation, and outside, a variety of different seating areas were designed, including an outdoor kitchen and a jacuzzi by the pool.
Photo: Oded Smadar
Land and garden development
“It was important for the homeowners to find a large area because they wanted to feel the land and aspired to a garden with a presence that enveloped the house,” says the architect.
Indeed, the presence of the garden is essential to the house from the entrance, where concrete paths were combined with vegetation and Mediterranean trees such as carob, oak and pomegranate. The back garden is based on tropical trees such as lychee and macadamia, and deep in the plot, the pool was designed, covered in natural stone, which creates a greenish and refreshing hue. The pool is slightly elevated from ground level, and the inspiration was a natural spring growing from the ground. From the entrance to the sitting areas scattered throughout the garden, everything was designed so that the family can enjoy the open space for years, even as needs change. The garden provides them with a place to entertain, play, and spend their daily time that suits their lifestyle today and in the future.
Photo: Oded Smadar
About the office:
The studio has been operating since 2016 and mainly deals with the design of private houses and apartments.
Our emphasis is on comprehensive planning of the experience, starting with finding the right space, continuing with the design of the house and furniture, and down to the smallest details. We really like to involve our clients in the process.
This connects them to the planning, the vision, and the path, and ultimately upgrades and enriches the result and their daily experience at home.
Architect: Dudu Ben GigiArchitect Dudu Ben Gigi
Article in collaboration with Defend Technologies:Low Voltage Systems | Defend Technologies
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Where design meets lifestyle
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Where design meets lifestyle
Where design meets lifestyle
