U Villa Residential House by Adel Badrawy Is Granted the A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design

The Work

Project

U Villa Residential House

Function

Residential House

Category

Architecture, Building and Structure Design

Discipline

Spatial Design

Industry

Architecture

Colors

Steel Blue, Cornflower Blue, Gray, Dim Gray and Light Gray

Images

4

Client

Rawasem Architecture Workshop 'RAW'

The Recognition

Laureate

Adel Badrawy

Country

Egypt

Recognition

A' Design Award

Edition

2020 - 2021

Design ID

#108061

Credits

Team

Sarah Ashraf and Menna Ehab

Design Details

Unique Properties

The approach by the client was to design a house that accommodates a Saudi family of six members. The brief was creating a place within its cultural context along with the functional and environmental needs. This villa is a part of a group of consecutive separated villas for a Saudi family. The group consists of a villa for the father and two other villas for both sons. And this one is for the younger son.

Inspiration

The U-shaped house was inspired by the horseshoe. An essential element in Saudi culture. An element that some believe brings luck. It’s a piece of art itself and a foundation for their cultural and historical ride, the horse. This geometrical shape also helped to functionally form a courtyard which is the breather of the house and also splits the house into public and private zones on the ground floor while splitting the normal bedrooms from the bedroom suites in the first and second floors. Also, the morphology of the masses was inspired by the traditional dress for women, the burqa. A custom that resembles privacy and strong attachment to the roots.

Research

The design team mainly had to learn more about Saudi culture and the main items that most represent their beliefs. The team wanted to extract from this how a house can act as a part of their behaviour and the way they approach their daily life. What are their main values in life? How do we design a place that represents their values and cope with the environment? A survey had to be made by asking many Saudi people from different age groups, especially from Al-Riyadh area. As well as studying the traditional housing projects and the different solutions they've managed to come up with functionally, culturally, environmentally, and economically.

Challenge

The challenge was to accommodate privacy, open floor plans, functional and cultural necessities, all in one place. Right from splitting private and semi-private areas from public areas while maintaining the concept of an open floor plan. All through the treatment of some traditional features of architecture in a contemporary way such as the inner courtyard with a water feature in it, the summer terrace, replacing mashrabiyas with louvers, and cladding the whole villa with local marble stone. Every single aspect of these had to be thought about in a creative way.

Realization and Technology

Inspired by the traditional mashrabiyas we created vertical louvers for west facade and horizontal ones for the south facade. Also, Al miqaad al saify, which is a replication of a traditional summer terrace/seating area that goes back to the 16th century. The terrace is designed facing the northwest wind, It’s west facade is protected by vertical louvers to block sun rays and enable the wind to flow inside the terrace, while open to the east side overlooking the inner courtyard. Local marble stone is used to cover the whole villa with different shades of beige and brown.

Operation and Interaction

The villa is a G + 3 floors. The inspiration was the main force to distribute the spaces like the following. On the ground floor, the public majlis and reception area are facing the front yard while the living areas are open to the inner courtyard. The same goes to the upper floors, bedrooms are facing the street view while the bedroom suites are facing the courtyard. Having a wife, two sons, and two daughters, the functional necessity requires to have the ground floor acting mainly as a reception area with different levels of privacy. While the first and second floors would accommodate the bedrooms, suites, and recreational areas for the small family.

Project Duration and Location

Project started in early 2019 and finished by mid 2019. It's located in Al-Riyadh, KSA.

Keywords

Residential, Architecture, Sustainability, Contemporary, House, AlRiyadh, KSA