Inside there are rooms attached to the garden area through gaps that open towards the shaded outdoor space. This space is of great importance for the inhabitants of the house, it flows vertically to join through a space that forms the heart of the house and permeates the main staircase that leads to the most private areas.
The "diwaniya", a meeting area for friends and visitors, typical of traditional culture in Kuwait, is located in the most public part of the house and is divided into outdoor and indoor areas.
Pixel house by AGi Architects. Photograph by Nelson Garrido.
Project description by AGi architects
Nasser Abulhasan and Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea face all AGi architects' projects with a process of empathy and approach to the concerns of each client and, in this case, the clients required a simple place that would serve as an extension of their own personality.
The plot was in unbeatable condition, adjoining on three of its sides with public accesses and a particularly pronounced setback on one of its sides, which allowed the construction of a wide landscape that served as scenery for the enjoyment of the home.
Pixel house by AGi Architects. Photograph by Nelson Garrido.
The house has been conceived as a system of privacy and temperature filters. Through these filters, the spaces are pixelated to generate new uses depending on the inhabitants and the external conditions.
The main filter is the garden, with native species that serve as a first barrier to the warm air and the retention of the sandy dust that often travels through the Kuwaiti sky. This first filter is followed by the pool, which is covered with a perforated slab that, over time, will be covered with climbing plants and make the ground-floor space a perfect place to rest during autumn, winter, and spring nights.
The closed, air-conditioned space, where the living rooms next to the garden area are located, has openings to the shaded outdoor space, minimizing heat gain caused by solar radiation. These spaces, which are fundamental during the day of the home’s inhabitants, flow vertically to join through a space made up of a customized multi-purpose piece of furniture, which forms the heart of the house and wraps around the main staircase leading to the most private area.
Pixel house by AGi Architects. Photograph by Nelson Garrido.
As is typical of traditional culture in Kuwait, the meeting area for friends and visitors (diwaniya) is located in the most public part of the house, near the entrance, and is divided into outdoor areas, where nightlife is organized, and indoor areas, where they can meet any day at any time. This is the most private pixel.
The courtyards act as thermal filters towards the interior of the house. Depending on how the spaces that surround them are opened and closed, they function as a convector that takes the hot air and expels it from the house.
