Where: One of the central cities.
For: a couple in their 40s with 6 children.
Lot area: about 0.12 acres.
Built area: about 350 square meters.
Architecture and interior design: Israelevitz Architects.
Photography: Oded Smadar.
The interplay between sealed and closed to open and ventilated exists in the new home of the couple in their 40s, and their six children, even more so. The new and sophisticated project, which is located in the heart of a quiet and pleasant residential neighborhood looking towards saturated construction, was designed as a kind of villa floating in the air in order to give its residents an airy feeling on the one hand and on the other hand intimate and private.
"The house is built on a corner lot with two of its facades facing the street," explains Hila Israelevitz, owner of Israelevitz Architects, which is in charge of the impressive project. "It is surrounded by low houses that leave it open and airy, and in the outer ring the houses are higher than that, while the living floor is surrounded by a green and well-kept garden, creating a buffer between the private and the public, on the balconies around the perimeter of the room floor is an elegant trellis - thus creating maximum privacy. In the area of the balconies, significant horticulture was planned And the modern lines were practically put on an age-old concept: intimate internal courtyards suspended in the air, with floor-to-ceiling showcases that allow looking out but are hidden from view - each of them received meticulous and up-to-date treatment.
Indeed, the wood cladding and the iron lattice produce a material and formal contrast and warm the gray concrete structure. The unique latticework is the product of a mind craft - a mess organized on purpose, a pattern that started as an abstract scribble on paper and became an important and central element in the work.
The spacious house spans three floors: a basement floor, an entrance floor above which rides and floats the living floor - in this way, it is an essential source of shading for the outdoor accommodation areas on the ground level. Meanwhile, the outside and the inside talk and communicate in this house as one total and powerful piece. "While the upper one is surrounded by picturesque curtains, the lower one is surrounded by a glass array that allows an optimal and almost unmediated observation of the cute corners outside," explains Hila. "The outdoor hospitality space is saturated with water sources, including the swimming pool and a mirror pool in the center of which a beautiful Pitana tree was planted that parallels the living room and is a direct continuation of it. All that separates these two arenas is a large display case."
Just like in the art of music, in this house too the meticulousness of order and rhythm is evident: in front of the massive architectural elements stand light details floating in a fixed pattern, which balance the static appearance and give it flow and life. For example, the thin steel columns that were incorporated in a regular rhythm and the sculptural spiral staircase in the heart of the public space that serves as a unique anchor point that is hard to ignore. "You enter the house through a gate to the left of which the pool is visible. The way to the front door is accompanied by a transparent path that hovers over an English courtyard, made of a glass floor and thin iron mesh cable railings. Upon opening the black iron door, the living room is revealed, followed immediately by the mirroring pool.
To the left is the kitchen, from which there is an exit to the outdoor accommodation space that sits under the floor of the living floor - thus the building, which is L-shaped, becomes a cube. The outdoor space is completely covered and this is an important detail, especially in the extreme climate conditions in Israel. The ceiling outside is used as a functional awning and lighting fixtures have been planted in it which are a direct continuation of the lighting in the interior spaces."
"As we move inward to the center of the public wing, we will discover a cube covered with carpentry and the sculptural staircase that leads to the bedroom floor and to the basement floor - where two suites for their adult children and a home cinema room were planned. From every point of view in this house, we will discover the outside, which is an important and central part of the living experience." The floor of the entrance floor is covered with a particularly strong material made of resins with a resin finish that gives it the appearance of concrete: "The application of the material is done all at once and as such it is free of seams or gaps. The fact that the material knows how to expand and contract eliminates the need for them and thus it remains continuous and continuous," explains Hila. "On this floor there are actually only two built walls - one in the kitchen and the other in the living room, while the rest of the shell is completely transparent and surrounded by a grid of disconnected steel columns and in varying planes, which gives the floor an almost floating appearance."
The staircase is located at the joint of the building, at the connection between the dining area and the living room and the parents' wing. The rounded lines of the spiral stairs refine and soften the geometric structure. They are wrapped in metal cables with a repetitive and constant rhythm that keeps the frame. In front of the oak beams stand out the metallic gray resin floor and the exposed concrete ceiling - a precise balance between flexibility and stiffness, between heat and cold. The selected parallel kitchen is from the Italian quality brand DADA. Its units are painted in a graphite shade and walnut wood elements have been incorporated into it: "The kitchen furniture fits into the monochromatic design of the public space and the walnut wood adds a dimension of warmth," adds Hila. "The front of the tall cabinets is located inside an exposed concrete niche that is an integral part of the house's architecture, inside which the hidden air conditioning system is also located. The island combines a preparation and work area covered in natural stone, with an eating counter made of walnut wood. In the part facing the dining area, we designed a system of transparent glass drawers that The surface has a floating look and the utensils we stored in them add color and texture to the space."
The dining table consists of a brass plate in a golden bronze tone and a stone leg, and above it a system of three-dimensional disk-like lighting fixtures was installed in a unique composition: "The concrete ceiling in this house is completely exposed and its casting is done at one time as one piece, therefore, all the lighting points in it were carefully planned even before the construction Since it is not possible to fix or change positions when it is already built, we have given extra thought to the lighting body above the dining table, which consists of several separate units, each of which is in a different position and in a different composition - some are installed in a horizontal position and some are mounted vertically Bodies are similar to the discs floating in the dining area - the finish is the same but the form is different."
The living room, as mentioned, is one of the only two areas on the entry floor where walls are built: "Since the wall does not reach the ceiling, and actually ends with a glass window, a disconnection is created that gives the ceiling a floating appearance. In order to provide a solution for the air conditioning system and the sound system, two cabinets were designed in this area Metallic - the air conditioning unit is hidden in one and the audio systems in the other. The integral handles of the sound unit are actually two monolithic speakers that are integrated into the body of the furniture and produce excellent sound that is optimally distributed in the space." "The seating system consists of different pieces - all made by the best Italian brands. Above the slightly shiny woolen carpet was placed a deep and luxurious sofa upholstered in rich fabric with a chaise longue at the end; the two oval coffee tables are made of stone with a hammered finish; a pair of armchairs upholstered in camel-colored leather and against it another armchair upholstered in silhouette leather rounded and sculptural".
The swimming pool that awaits the family members and their guests outside is hydraulic and its bottom rises according to demand to the level of the hospitality area, thus completing it into a paved surface. "It was important to us that the two surfaces be the same. We paved the extension with Guatemala verde la stone, a shade very similar to the shade of the pool, and as such it expresses well the shades of the water and the sky. The dining area and the living room corner are located near the kitchen under the covered area which, as mentioned, completes the building into a cube."
The living floor is completely different from the guest floor: the wooden steps in the staircase meet the smoked oak parquet floor, in the fishbon pattern, which dominates the entire floor, except for the bathrooms. The doors are bright, all in the zero line, and as such they give the space a modern and polished look. On this floor were planned the parents' master, a suite for one of the sons and two spacious bedrooms for the two young children who share a common bathroom with separate entrance doors from the two rooms. The children's rooms were designed according to their age, taste and hobbies, for example the little daughter's room was designed as a princess room with pure pink tones and in the younger son's room motifs from the worlds of space and astronauts stand out.
The couple's master bedroom includes a bedroom with an intimate balcony with a jacuzzi and a walk-in closet followed by a bathroom: "An airy glass partition separates the walk-in closet from the bathroom. I chose to cover the floor and two of the walls with graphite-colored resin that combines a brown tone. In these walls, two Bathroom cabinets (one for him and one for her) face each other in a mirror image. Both are made of walnut slats, topped with a stone surface with an integral sink. The shower wall is covered with a powerful green granite stone. "The children's bathrooms are tile-free and, like the parents', their walls are covered with resin. Each of them has a large, luxurious shower and practical and convenient storage bath cabinets."
On the lower level, where the two suites for the grown-up children are located, a home theater room was also planned: "We painted the walls and the ceiling in a dark blue shade and added an entire wall for the screen, behind which the speakers and audio systems are hidden. On one of the walls, we installed a light fixture consisting of several round units that together create a look that resembles the solar eclipse. The sofa consists of several modular units that allow changing the composition according to need and requirement. They are deep, pampering and upholstered in black and turquoise fabrics."