RESIDENCE FOR KUWAITI DIPLOMATS

PRAHA
2012

Six houses to be built in two phases at the outskirts of the city close to the airport. Rooms are structured following the traditional cultural schemes – the shared parts are separated from the private ones, the private from the representative ones and from the service areas.
No matter the different climatic conditions expressed by the relation to the light and shade, orientation of the building and materials the houses respond to the characteristic elements of Kuwaiti architecture. The houses have emphasised entrances, yet they do not let a visitor peak into the family’s privacy; the gender and hierarchic structure of the layouts is recognized.  The cantilevered 1st floor increases the area of flats. Private gardens are separated by a wall. Houses are brickwork with a concrete staircase and columns in the centre of the layout, recessed by a half floor into the natural grade; a single-pitch roof. There is an onyx wall in the representative areas of the house, marble floors; massive timber floors on the 1st floor and in private premises; a concrete screed finish on the floors in the service areas. Facades are finished with thicker vitrified ceramic tiles, combining solid and perforated ones; smooth plaster on the 1st floor. Each material features original colours and structures following the Islamic-Arabic structural traditions.

Category:

Residential houses

Client:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait

Study:

2012

City:

Praha