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A concrete cut

The line – and its ability to split and merge spaces and volumes – is the cornerstone that led to the design of this monolithic house in Israel, completed by Pitsou Kedem Architects.

Viewed from the front, the house completed by Pitsou Kedem Architects in Ramat Gan, Israel, looks like a monolithic operation of materials with a deep, monochromatic range of colors.

Three rectangular prisms, lain upon one another, into a peaceful composition, stable and subdued, appearing as heavy masses. A second, discerning glance reveals a dramatic encounter of materials taken from two separate worlds poured, massive concrete and glass panels, creating a semitransparent wall with a decisive line running through it.

The variations of opaque glass yields a colossal appearance of yet more concreteness unifying the building’s constructionyet still natural. The glass acts to embrace the light allowing it to pour in, controlling its every move.

While the front facade is an abstract creation conceptually assuring the blending of identity and function, the rear facade graphically expresses threedimensionality, the probing of depth and the feeling of brightness and freedom.

A glance at the side facades explains the process of exposure and illumination beginning at the opaque facade facing the road and leading to the facades facing the yard and pool.

The entrance to the home occurs on the western side at the patio garden, starting from the basement leading to the living rooms. The living rooms are double in size and face the southern gardens. Two staircases lead to the living areas, one descending to the children’s area and another ascending to two additional levels, one containing the children’s living rooms and another with the parents rooms.

The design of the space and their dispersal upon four planes creates in each one a sense of maximal privacy and although none is entirely exposed each of them comfortably access the exterior. Thus a structure of concrete and glass of various transparencies is created, the materials stray between one another as the visitor strays between the structure itself.