No.13 villa

Navid Atrvash

• Architects

Villa No. 13 is composed of a series of semi-open and enclosed spatial boxes that, through a perforated envelope, generates an inner–outer microclimate. The project seeks to immerse the user in open and semi-open spaces that compete in importance with the enclosed interior, achieved through a spatial structure organized around three upper-level yards and one interior courtyard. These voids remain in constant dialogue with the project’s volume and maintain a strong interaction with the internal spaces—beyond the northern and southern yards formed by the building’s placement on the site.

photo_credit Navid Atrvash — Navid Atrvash

The configuration and presence of the three elevated yards —each extending along a continuous north–south axis—stem directly from the project narrative and their specific relationship with the interior spaces on each level.
• On the ground floor, the west yard not only creates an inviting entrance and a visual corridor opening toward the southern yard at the far end of the site, but also functions alternately as a parking area or an outdoor play space connected to the indoor recreational zone.
• On the first floor, the east yard enables an optional entrance at this level while forming a pleasant terrace with desirable views toward the north and east, adjacent to the living and gathering areas.
• On the second floor, the concept of inserting a central yard between the bedrooms originates from the client’s request to create spatial separation between the main private bedroom and the other rooms.

Generous in scale, these three elevated yards enhance visual and physical permeability throughout the building. Their north–south orientation allows them to simultaneously benefit from southern daylight and preferred northern views. Beyond these exterior voids—which reveal themselves immediately upon encountering the building—the interior courtyard embedded within the mass gives the sectional relationships a distinct spatial quality. This void, aligned with the boundaries of the courtyards above and below, frames a green core for the first floor and gently distinguishes public and semi-public zones.

Two main strategies further reinforce the active role of these open spaces: stitching and shading.

Stitching the yards: Unlike the private interior rooms, wandering through the open spaces carries an implicit permit—inviting exploration and encouraging users to discover the diverse outdoor atmospheres. The elevated yards connect directly through independent outdoor circulation paths, creating a narrative separate from the interior spatial diagram and prompting users to traverse the yards across different levels and viewpoints.

Shading: Although the massing is fragmented and articulated through the shifting spatial boxes—responding to the desire for optimal northern and eastern views and southern light—the building maintains coherence through a shared formal language, a monolithic materiality, and a continuous enveloping skin. This perforated wrapper, referencing the project’s original mass boundaries, casts layered shadows across the open spaces and incorporates details that support the growth of climbing plants, together forming a small-scale microclimate. This atmospheric threshold challenges the boundary between inside and outside, enriching the experience of intermediate spaces with changing shadows throughout the day and across the seasons.
Climbing plants grow along subtle cable supports threaded through the louvers, and in the coming years, the envisioned “citrus-garden enclosure” surrounding the villa will unfold as an even greener narrative for the project.