Split level

The house in Dumbrava Vlăsiei stands between the forest and the park like a threshold: a simple volume placed perpendicularly to the length of the site, creating a front yard towards the south and the park and a backyard towards the north and the forest. Laurian Ghinitoiu Occupying almost the entire width of the plot and as little as possible from its length, the house orients its two long sides towards the two privileged views of the natural landscape. Laurian Ghinitoiu The house thus functions as a narrow, permeable limit between the two courtyards, allowing daylight to penetrate all across its width. The volume steps back from the street, leaving way to a future patch of garden with birch trees, magnolias and lilacs. Lauri... More

Contemporary four bedroom villa  More

Janis Nicolay This renovation of a narrow split level half duplex is designed to be an oasis for a jet setting client, with minimalist sensibilites, joyful accents and moden material palette. Connecting spaces located on split levels using structural glass stairs the living spaces are visually continuous, bright and airy anchored by a vertical stair volume in the middle of the dwelling.  Janis Nicolay The scope of work included updating all the finishes and reconfiguring the dwelling to have two master bedroom suites and a guest bed/den. The bedrooms boast vaulted ceilings with ocean and mountain views, walk-in closets and spa ensuite baths.  Janis Nicolay A carefully selected palette of finshes define the charact... More

This is a house for a couple and a small son in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. We designed a large house with a square plan and designed four small houses from each vertex. The gap between small houses becomes a crossroad. The small houses are designed to be alone and the crossroad is designed to stay with the family. Residents can live in and out of small houses and a large house. The windows of small houses are connected to the crossroad, and the windows of the large house are connected to the garden, gentle hills, trees of the forest, the sky and the clouds. More

 Two dilapidated rowhouses at a busy intersection make way for a new building. A full height claustra shields the house from the traffic intersection and the nearby train, and at the same time corrects the slant in the parcel. Behind the claustra stands the house as a light and compact stacking of plot wide rooms. Initiated by the generous ceiling height of the living space, the rooms each move half a floor, and gradually progress along a central void. A fine structure of polished concrete slabs spans the entire width of the house with a minimum thickness. Horizontal windows and fully glazed interior joinery give the shallow building a lightness and transparency. More

A unique building site requires a specific house. The new volume wants to graft itself as one monolithic bloc in the open environment. A sturdy brick house. The south side opens to the rural views, while the north facade is closed for privacy reasons, so the neighbours have no inside view. The section is clearly readable : half below ground level the garage and storerooms are situated. The parent and cantilever sleeping level is just one storey high so the neighbours are not deprived of their sunlight. The living room is on the same level as the garden. The ceiling height in the living area is variable. It aligns above the kitchen with the ceiling of the sleeping area so that a volume is created with continuous roof line. Through an... More