Pitsou Kedem: A House for an architect – Photos by Amit Geron. Styling by Eti Buskila. Courtesy of Pitsou Kedem.

Israeli architect Pitsou Kedem designed his own family home in Ramat HaSharon around childhood memories of his wife’s kibbutz. The project combines raw materials with contemporary details to blend with the Modernist neighbourhood.

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Pitsou Kedem says to ArchiPanic: “The neighborhood where we live was established in the 1950’s by army veterans and can be characterized by buildings with low silhouettes and horizontal lines set in a rich grove of eucalyptus trees”.

“We wanted to avoid the creation of gimmicks to realize in the house’s design that elusive idea of ‘timeless architecture’. My aim was to create a human scale and cosy family home, yet architectural”.

The project combines elements such as a concrete ceiling and continuous windows play with linear and geometrical humble shapes. The studio made also use of raw materials like exposed concrete, iron, uncolored wood and silicate bricks.

Above the entrance floor a concrete ceiling floats with a continuous window along its entire length.  This allows the ceiling to be separate from the structure’s walls and creates a feeling of etherealness in the buildings mass and the white painted, iron ramp that leads to the floating entrance lobby.

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The door is located in the center of the building at the cross section between the stairwell and it opens facing a fixed, frameless window overlooking eucalyptus trees that surround the plot.

The stairwell is constructed from metal with a unique texture and with no covering materials.  It divides the two floors into rectangles and is delimitated by two walls constructed from exposed blocks that support the ceiling.

The building is composed by two squares stacked on top of one another. A slope allows to create a “discreet architecture” with two levels facing opposite directions and partially hidden by evergreen Brachychiton trees.

Light is provided from the skylight that runs its entire length, covered by wooden slats.  Set into the walls are round windows of differing sizes that allow the light coming through the skylight to disperse within the space.

The raw materials and the attempts to create a non-fashionable and timeless architecture compliment many books and works hanging in the homes of both young and old Israeli artists.  The house’s furniture and light fixtures were also carefully chosen to complete the look and the atmosphere.

The team who worked on this project was led by Pitsou Kedem, Noa Groman and Tamar Berger.

Photos by Amit Geron. Styling by Eti Buskila.