Pixel House

The house has been conceived as a system of privacy and temperature filters. Through these filters, the spaces are pixelated to generate new uses depending on the inhabitants and the external conditions.

The main filter is the garden, with native species that serve as a first barrier to the warm air and the retention of the sandy dust that often travels through the Kuwaiti sky. This first filter is followed by the pool, which is covered with a perforated slab that, over time, will be covered with climbing plants and make the ground-floor space a perfect place to rest during autumn, winter and spring nights.

The closed, air-conditioned space, where the living rooms next to the garden area are located, has openings to the shaded outdoor space, minimizing heat gain caused by solar radiation. These spaces, which are fundamental during the day of home’s inhabitants, flow vertically to join through a space made up of a customized multi-purpose piece of furniture, which forms the heart of the house and wraps around the main staircase leading to the most private area.

As is typical of traditional culture in Kuwait, the meeting area for friends and visitors (diwaniya) is located in the most public part of the house, near the entrance, and is divided into outdoor areas, where nightlife is organised, and indoor areas, where they can meet any day at any time. This is the most private pixel.

The courtyards act as thermal filters towards the interior of the house. Depending on how the spaces that surround them are opened and closed, they function as a convector that takes the hot air and expels it from the house.