Articles by Hana Abdel

Pia Nesensohn from Austria adopted Sri Lanka as her second home and found a 68 perch land with dense foliage opening out to ‘Madu Ganga’ to build her tropical villa. Set on a site sloping towards the river at its rear, this building follows a simple plan with a manipulation of cubic forms, rustic materials and the topography of the verdant green landscape. Madu ganga’, located in the southern province of Sri Lanka, is a bio diverse river ecosystem rich in mangrove flora and fauna. The tropical climate brings in seasonal heavy rain showers and alternating periods of sunshine with lighter showers through the rest of the year.

Afra House project started as a renovation of a very old house located in Lavasan, which is a small town north of Tehran, Iran. The house was on top of a slope in a property with a split-level in its land, creating a rough passageway to get to the house from the entrance including a long flight of stairs and a path through the garden. The main objectives of the project defined based on the existing condition of the house, which was first, to convert the two separate levels of the building into a duplex by inserting a staircase. Secondly, rethinking the accessibility to the main building from the entrance at the street level and finally adding a number of features and functions that are necessary to a vacation house, such as an outdoor pool, janitor’s suite, Jacuzzi and office space.

This project was located in Hoian City, an ancient town in Vietnam. The house has an advantage of natural and cultural background because Hoian is famous for hundreds of years old houses along with diverse and unique flora and rivers. Therefore, we formed the idea to design this house based on the filtering and promoting the cultural and natural values of the locality. Specifically, the architectural form is transformed from the impression of native plants, and the architectural space is transformed from the native residential space. Besides that, we pay attention to the variation in the use of materials and in spatial design or morphology. All aimed at creating a unique and newness of the house, but it's still adapting to the local climate, comfortable and familiar to indigenous living habits.

This terraced property in the foothills of the Gakuenmae district of Nara Prefecture faced several difficult conditions, including a retaining wall hemming the lot in on the north and south and a steep slope separating it from the road on the west side. Our design work began with an inquiry from the clients as to whether this property, which had gone unsold for a long period, couldn’t be used to build a house. Since the wife loves to cook and often spends the whole day in the kitchen, the clients requested that the kitchen form the core of the house. They also wanted the house to have an outdoorsy atmosphere and parking for one car. 

The house is situated in a quiet residential neighborhood between Orchard Road, the upscale shopping street in Singapore, and the UNESCO World Heritage site ‘The Singapore Botanic Gardens’. The planning of the house was initiated by the client’s requirement for a private gallery to exhibit his art collection. As guests would be invited for viewing of the art collection, the gallery is separated from the other private living spaces.

Joglo Ngebo is an attempt to create a humane design, combining vernacular and modern architecture. The soft colors and textures of the wooden columns called “Soko” in Javanese combined with the glossy transparent glazing and white metal pergola create a unique experience of how those two architectural eras could intertwine. The material combination of exposed bricks, unfinished concrete, and wood creates a feeling of warmth for the residents in this house.

A small factory in Nagano was converted in to a residence. The client is a couple returning to their hometown with their 2 small children to live next to their parents. The site had two buildings side by side, an old farmhouse and a small factory. The parents now live in a house right in front. The request was to renovate this old farmhouse that they had a strong attachment, so they could live and in the future hold fitness classes. Through research, the farmhouse had been renovated several times and its condition was not suitable for actually living. The factory, on the other hand, was a 38 years old and its steel structure was in good condition. The farmhouse and the factory were a continued space without any separating walls, resulting in a generous space with different times and backgrounds connected.