Architects: Pitsou Kedem Architects
Area: 500 m²
Year: 2014
Photography: Amit Geron
Lead Architects: Noa Groman
Light Design: Orly Avron Alkabes
City: Ramat Gan
Country: Israel
A Concrete Cut, a residential project by Pitsou Kedem Architects, completed in 2014, in Tel Aviv, Israel, explores the interplay of materials and light through a series of three rectangular prisms. The design utilizes poured concrete and glass panels to create a dynamic interaction between opacity and transparency, emphasizing the line as a fundamental visual element.
The creation of a line, this visual act, has historically intersected art, science, and technology—from the dawn of writing to cave drawings and mathematical formulas, all using graphics to express new ideas. A line on a dark background—short or long, thin or thick—can express orientation, movement, convergence, divergence, pain, freedom, connection, or repulsion. Its most fascinating property is its ability to divide and connect separate worlds simultaneously.
Viewed from the front, the house appears as a monolithic composition of materials with a deep, monochromatic color range. Three rectangular prisms are laid upon one another in a stable, subdued composition, appearing as heavy masses.
A second glance reveals a dramatic encounter of materials from two worlds—poured concrete and glass panels, creating a semitransparent wall with a decisive line running through it.
The opaque glass variations create a colossal appearance of concreteness, unifying the building’s construction while remaining natural. The glass embraces the light, controlling its every move, creating a dynamic screen of light that adapts to those passing through its rays.
Within the glass structure, the line reappears, emphasizing the movements of the eastern facade and creating an exposed slice on the southern facade with transparent windows. The front facade conceptually blends identity and function, while the rear facade expresses three-dimensionality, depth, and a sense of brightness and freedom.
The side facades illustrate the process of exposure and illumination, starting from the opaque facade facing the road to the facades facing the yard and pool. There is a gradient of interchanging transparency levels between the different facades made of the same foundation stones.
The home’s entrance is on the western side at the patio garden, starting from the basement leading to the living rooms, guiding visitors from outer to inner worlds.
The living rooms are double in size, facing the southern gardens, visible from a library entrance on the same level as the private rooms. Two staircases lead to the living areas, one descending to the children’s area and another ascending to two additional levels containing the children’s living rooms and the parents’ rooms.
Two yards run along the children’s quarters: one patio ascends to the entrance, and the other runs along the eastern side, providing light, air, and privacy. The floor corners for sitting, a private yard, and a personal gym highlight the private world of children.
The design and distribution of spaces across four planes create a sense of maximal privacy. Though none is entirely exposed, each area comfortably accesses the exterior. Thus, a structure of concrete and glass with various transparencies is created, with materials interweaving as visitors move through the structure.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Ramat Gan, Israel
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
