Ramat Gan House 2 – Pitsou Kedem Architect – Isreal

Project: Pitsou Kedem Architect

Location: Ramat Gan

Built area: 350 m²

Design and built: 2009-2011

Program: Single Family House

A private family residence situated in an urban environment.  In essence, the house is a closed, white box, devoid of any decorative or ornamental elements.  Within the “box”, long, horizontal lines have been opened which connected the house to its surroundings and which created, within the structure, a feeling as if an entire life had been frozen in time.  The openings make it possible to look out into the surrounding environment, or look into the house.  They allow natural light to penetrate the structure or artificial lighting to seep out, into the surroundings, during the hours of darkness.  In fact, the house constitutes a pure and immaculate bubble which invites those using the spaces into a world of design values that are radically different from those of the surrounding, chaotic, urban world.

The grooved and perforated envelope constitutes a type of polished and minimalistic object which brings out the monastic and minimized language that the designer chose to use.  The façade facing the street is remarkable in its restraint and the desire to create an exact and restrained show.

In the direction of the surrounding neighborhood, the other facades are built from large white walls with the random lines opened up in the walls through which the sunlight penetrates the walls, creating drama, motion and dynamism in a space that is otherwise so very meditative.

The polished form, the perfection shown in every detail and the fusion of the different materials, the monastic language, meticulously styled with great care, provides a feeling that we looking at a flat, almost two dimensional and picturesque bedding.  The various levels and the flow of the various shades of white, along with the geometric performance of the light against the horizontal and vertical surfaces, provide the restrained picture a sense of space and depth.

Bands of light and shade create in this oh so quiet space, a harmonious song and lyric that seems to play between the walls of the structure and which breathes life into the spirit of the silent walls.  The pattern of stripes and the seemingly random cadence chosen – almost seem to represent the rhythm of the light’s movement.  The designer used the same pattern that is sometimes seem in two dimensional angles, almost like a graphical logo, both in the details and other places in the home’s spaces such as the fence at the entrance and the various items of woodwork.