Barcelona-based architectural practice, Dom Arquitectura, has designed the Jeddah 4 houses project. Completed in 2013, the luxury homes boast Islamic architecture and are located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The project involved the construction of four homes in the city of Jeddah. The architect’s aim was to build modern architectural homes, functional and attractive to the user, but in turn, related to the environment of the Saudi city of Jeddah.
According to the architect: “The ground floor facade is understood as a zocalo (housing base) and the contact point with the ground, so he poses with two materials such as concrete and wood, as hard, rude and natural materials. The first floor is the one that has more front surface and therefore more exposed to the sun. It will be completely white as an open box resting on the grey base. The white colour will minimise the impact of solar radiation on the homes.
“The housing set floors arise symmetrically, since the separation of the solar law requires us. But we will avoid the symmetrical elevations as far as possible, so the outside perspective show us a modern set housing, looking rather the sum of elements, forming a sum of the four houses rather asymmetrical.
“On the first floor are created a galleries/terraces, as a transition to the outside (outer space but protected from solar radiation). In the old Islamic buildings is a fairly common element, since it allows us to have a fresh element prior to outside heat, avoiding the high temperatures inside. In these terraces are placed a series of sliding shutters, as a sunscreen, like a second skin of the building that will protect us from the sun and also will create a random distribution rate, which completely break any symmetry.
“These lattices are inspired on the old Arab slats and Islamic mosaics, which have a unique design and singular forms related in some way with the typical Islamic patterns. In this way we are able to incorporate some modern interior design elements.
“The lattices have a gradient in their holes, with more density in the upper holes, allowing us to the views and less density in the lower, giving more privacy for users.”
Images courtesy of Ghassan Alangari
