Text description provided by the architects. The house is situated on a six acre agricultural plot in Sde Yizhak, a village in the coastal plain of Israel. The landscape of the area is fairly flat and anonymous with no special focal points. Planning in a vast, seemingly endless landscape, a rare situation in the densely populated center of Israel. Our design focused on the relationship between the house and the landscape, defining its space, while at the same time blurring the borders between the house and its surroundings.
The house is placed on an imaginary axis running from the village to a focal point we created on the horizon. The main living spaces – living room, family room and kitchen are concentrated around the core of the house, an open patio facing the landscape. This patio connects these spaces and forms an outdoor living room, typical in Mediterranean architecture. We decided to place the master bedroom a second floor, creating a metaphoric attic connected to the house by an indoor and outdoor staircase with a terrace overlooking the patio.
The building mass is deconstructed from a solid mass in the front into a punctured plane that folds round the northern edge of the house giving the house a different dimension from the one perceived during the approach. This plane draws a guideline of the house, creating a covered space mediating between the house and its surroundings and framing views of the agricultural landscape and the sky.
