Collective housing represents architecture’s commitment to the city. It adapts to the urban condition, and benefits from the opportunities that density provides. Living closer together means better access to leisure, culture and work in less time.

In our projects, collective housing has the advantages of villas: spaciousness, views, privacy and exterior space.

Collective housing has much to offer, as some excellent examples demonstrate. We have studied it in depth in Kuwait –you cannot miss the book The multiplex typology, by Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea, Sharifa Alshalfan, and Sarah Alfraih. A series of architectural strategies define our approach to collective housing from the urban scale to the interior of the home.

 

Maximising the beauty of the place. Views and orientation.

The first step in the design process is to shape the building. What we ask ourselves is: what volumetry will give the homes more light, better views and energy efficiency? From this question, we define step by step shapes and orientation. In Kuwait, our houses face north, with the circulations facing south, acting as a thermal buffer.

An example of this is Sama’a Wafra. In this project we designed the volume progressively on the basis of a wish: all the dwellings should face the sea. Above the podium with the car parking and garden apartments, we designed a set of broken towers that allow all the houses to enjoy extensive panoramic views of the coast.

 

This is the case also of 15′ City Complex, a project where you can relax looking at the ocean from your home or from one of the pools at different levels.

 

Internal-external gradient. Defining the urban to human scale transition.

At the same time as seeking the best configuration for the dwellings, we face one of the great complexities of collective housing, that of mediating between the urban scale and the domestic scale. The response to the urban setting is always a priority.

We take this as an opportunity to house communal spaces. The volumen is broken, torn or perforated. In the space generated, we locate plazas and facilities. They are part of a visual and functional gradient between the city and the dwellings.

In Fawsec Campus, we created a play of volumetric variations that shaped the buildings and in turn generated a sense of community inside.

In Wafra Living, we architecturally defined the edge of the block. We raised the building in a cantilevered position to attract the life of the street. This integrates the building into the urban fabric, giving part of the ground floor to public commercial spaces. This ground floor connects to a raised plaza through a stepped garden. The whole thing is a play of transitions and paths that flow from outside to inside. We also designed a raised plaza, located in a recess cut into the volume on the sixth floor. It acts as a large-scale private community space for all residents. It has swimming pools and access to the gymnasium and gardens.

 

In Sama’a Wafra, there are two housing typologies, the garden apartments and the sky villas and sky apartments. They all have private terraces that allow the enjoyment of the outdoors and soften the climatic conditions. They form a final filter between the house and the city.

 

Perhaps the most unique project, in terms of the definition of the outdoor space, is our experimental Switch Homes prototype. Here, each home has an outdoor terrace that can be flexibly incorporated into the interior if necessary.

 

Changing the scale. The courtyard as a passive strategy.

We often use traditional architectural resources. The courtyard is one that is never missing in our residential projects, whether collective or single-family. It allows us to incorporate excellent outdoor spaces into the homes and improve their climatic performance.

In Wind Tower, we took this space, so important in Middle Eastern architecture, and developed it in height. This element, so adapted to the climate, by growing vertically, favours even more the ventilation of the dwellings. Warm air rises as in a wind tower. The patio is also adjacent to the swimming pool, making the air flow even cooler from this level upwards, finding its exit through the opposite façade.

 

In Green Core, the courtyard is fundamental too. It organises the whole complex. The courtyard becomes the undoubted centre of this project.

Envelop and protect. The lattice, privacy, beauty and energy efficiency.

The lattice is another traditional element of regional architecture in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. These are warmer countries where light has been a good whose quantity and incidence must be controlled. In Islamic architecture, the mashrabiya, characterised by its decorated wooden latticework, covers windows and balconies. It provides privacy –a culturally fundamental element– and solar protection.

Our buildings very often incorporate contemporary mashrabiyas. Wafra Living has perhaps one of the most iconic latticeworks among our projects. A perforated golden veil covers a large part of the building. The building acquires a singularity that is impossible to forget. And on the inside, the feeling is relaxing, cheerful and pleasant, with a beautiful play of light and shadow.