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Architects: The Heder Partnership
- Area: 230 m²
- Year: 2008
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Photographs:Amit Geron
Text description provided by the architects. House RNG is a country home built on a hill with a spectacular view. The house is designed around an internal courtyard with a limited number of carefully located openings that face the surrounding landscape. In contrast to this, there are large generous openings that create a strong connection to the central courtyard.
The client, a carpenter, requested a traditional Timber Frame House. The timber structural frame was shipped to Israel from Seattle. This logistic problem demanded that the house be designed and built on a strict modular system established by standard timber modules. This systematic approach was used to create a series of open flowing spaces.
The light two-storey timber frame is placed on the off-shutter concrete base that includes a small basement and rises above the natural ground level to a 45 cm high datum line. Only the walls embracing the children's beds are higher than this. The off-shutter base acts as a retaining wall creating the main floor living platform.
This living platform, including the entrance, living and dining spaces, a family room, the children's bedrooms and the central courtyard, is one floor above the street. The second floor contains the parents bedroom and study and a small terrace overlooking the central courtyard, which is defined by the house to the south and west and by the rising topography to the north. The eastern edge of the courtyard is defined by an external bathroom which doubles as a viewing platform. Here, the view is revealed in its entire splendor.
The house is not only built from natural, recyclable materials, but also enjoys numerous environmental elements. These include the use of recycled water and natural ventilation via light "chimneys".
