Nirvana House
AGi Architects
Principals
Nasser B. Abulhasan, Joaquín Pérez - Goicoechea
Design Project Leader
Daniel Muñoz
Onsite Project Leaders
Sara Barranco, Samer Mohammad
Project Team
Margaux Van Houtte, Abdul Hafiz Bahi El Din Mohamed, Javier Alonso, Nima Haghighatpour, Ana López, Marisa Ollero
Brief
Nirvana House is the result of a commission made by a private client to design a large family house in Kuwait. The house would have a complicated program including service, guest and family areas (with separated circulations), and an extended recreational program with private gardens, pool, gym and spa. The client always highlighted his intention to turn the house into a meeting point for the whole extended family, so most important issues to develop were not the different functions of all areas but connections between them, controlled views and privacy. To organize the plan we first set the service area to the north side of the plot (where the dividing wall is), establishing the main access at the opposite corner and the open areas (pool and main private terraces) overlooking the sea to the east. These generated a directional grid west-east that helped us to fit the program requirements. Two rhomboid courtyards provide with light and visual connection the different areas, always preserving the family-guest separation.
The whole exterior volume has been designed in terracotta while the interior of these courtyards will be made of darker polished stone, as it happens between natural landscape and marble quarries. A customized anodized aluminum lattice embraces the south corner of the house, as a veil that integrates the different entrances (pedestrian family entrance, car family entrance and guest entrance) changing its permeability according to the privacy required. This veil gives the exterior of the house a singular look that will help it become a landmark in the street that holds public buildings and infrastructure, completing the missing volumetric urban structure. AGi architects have designed a unique villa, where a sober exterior with terra-cotta tiling gives sophistication to a vibrating façade; a family house that fulfill all needs for an active socially relevant family, where public and private spaces are balanced and distributed in a way that completes each other without disturbing any of their coexisting users.
Experience & Involvement
Assigned to the project during the finishing packages and interior design fit-out phase. The primary role prior to delegation of the project was to study and familiarize with the design and the architectural details unique to this project. Duties assigned and delegated included revising and amending shop drawings from architectural principles, material selection with team members, meetings and reviews with different design principles related to a variety of sub-contractor fields, to understand and address any items of concern that would require coordination as conflicts would arise. Further duties encompassed the management and coordination of the international fit-out sub-contractor for the installation and delivery of fixed fitting works and loose furniture on site, prior to the occupation of the household by the client. The project presented a deep involvement into the finishes package, the various principles and methods to be applied from various sub-contractor fields, provided an insightful background and lessons for future practice and knowledge.
