Project: Areia
Architects: AAP Associated Architects Partnership
Location: Al Khiran, Kuwait
Area: 22,205 sf
Photographs by: Joao Morgado
The Areia project is a series of modern, geometric homes designed by AAP Associated Architects Partnership in the southern parts of Kuwait. The project is a part of a planned community located on the banks of a manmade canal and all of these five houses are developed within the same architectural concept, ensuring a sense of continuity and harmony, but they are far from identical copies.
The project is located in Sabah Alahmed Alsabah Maritime City in the southern part of Kuwait. Developed to expand the length of available shoreline, the development brings the sea into the desert to create a series of canals that are anchored by several docks and marinas and activated by many other recreational activities. The five plots of the five residences sit on one of the inner canals overlooking the sea.
From an early stage, the idea was to develop a sense of unity, using the same architectural language of simple plane geometry, as well as the same basic concept and programmatic organization, resulting in a contemporary image of continuity and proportion, where slight harmonious variations guarantee complexity and diversity to this set of houses.
The program involves an interpretation of the Kuwaiti way of life and its needs, relating the main daily living areas with the beach, exterior patios, gardens, and pool areas. Positioned in the ground floor and with a privileged view over the canal, they share the ability to combine their use by its dwellers, in order to maximize the overall flexibility, as well as associate the interior space with the exterior areas in a comfortable way, literally extending to the plot limits. On the opposite edge of the plot, next to the entrance, stands a formal social gathering space for guests, the diwanyia.
Upper floors are bounded by enveloping walls, partially perforated, that effectively guarantee the privacy requested by the program. It withstands certain programmatic variations without compromising the unity as an ensemble. More contained in itself, is reserved for the family bedrooms, with a wider, albeit protected, view over the city. Rooftops with its 360º panoramic view over Khiran make desirable leisure spaces, combining lounge and seating areas for socializing, making it an ideal venue for experiencing the sunset time when the absence of shade is tolerable.
Staff quarters, stand on different floors, connecting directly their circle of activities. The five villas, multiply the same organization concept in its basic. Despite the fact that the schematics are very similar, the volumetric composition presents gentle variations that make each house unique its own way. When seen from the road, they look like a simple repetition of the same house, a more heterogeneous facade is experienced from the canal.
The simple and neutral approach, tries to restore use, functions and habitability on a basic, shade and courtyards design options in a natural contradiction with what at this point is the development of this city, where the architectural anarchy of the different residential designs, the lack of criteria in color, dimensions, form, textures and construction options create a complex, heterogeneous image of a place that is yet to be defined.
–AAP Associated Architects Partnership
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