Slatted, folding wooden shutters and exposed board-marked concrete define this home by Israeli studio Pitsou Kedem Architects, designed in collaboration with architect Tamar Berger.
Located in a suburban area on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, the 500-square-metre Wood Slatted House sits surrounded by a large, tree-filled garden, and was designed for the twin brother of the studio’s founder, Pitsou Kedem.
In order to balance a desire for privacy with a close connection to the garden, Pitsou Kedem Architects and Berger positioned the home’s more exposed, glazed ground floor underneath an overhanging concrete upper storey.
The openings on the upper storey are sheltered by a mixture of slatted timber screens and openable shutters, which allow the entire southern side to open up onto a large terrace.
“The dynamic shutter system allows the filtering of sunlight without blocking airflow into and through the house, while also giving its residents the means to control their level of privacy in the different spaces within the house,” explained Pitsou Kedem Architects.
Almost the entire ground floor is dedicated to a large living, kitchen and dining space, with a small bathroom at the eastern edge behind a wall of full-height kitchen cabinets.
Along the southern edge, a wall of sliding doors separated by concrete pillars opens onto a concrete terrace, where a seating area sits beneath the overhanging floor above, onto which is fixed a pair of ceiling fans.
White metal bookshelves between steel supports separate the living area from a high, narrow staircase that runs along the full length of the home’s northern edge, lit from above by a low-level ribbon window and skylights set in the concrete ceiling.
“The solid concrete wall to the front is in fact detached from the house yet connected to it along its full length through a run of skylight windows set in cast architectural concrete in diverse shapes,” said the practice.
Above, the main en-suite bedroom and a smaller children’s bedroom sit on either side of an internal planted courtyard.
Facing the garden to the south, the double-skin facade allows both sliding glass doors and folding wooden screens to be used to mediate light and air, with each room opening onto the large first-floor terrace.
Internally, the board-marked concrete has been left largely exposed, with a lining of thin wooden slats in the bedrooms and living room ceiling referencing the external shutters.
Pitsou Kedem Architects has completed several homes in Israel, including a white, minimalist villa overlooking a large swimming pool, and a dwelling surrounded by pattern aluminium screens for shade and ventilation.
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