Articles by Hana Abdel

This project embarked in a detached housing area in the housing site development district, which is adjacent to Jingwan-dong Hanok village, has been started with the aspiration to achieve the dream of the client in 60s close to retirement. The client’s requirement was simple. The client requested two things: to enable the client to start a day overlooking Mt. Bukhansan when the client opens their eyes at a bedroom in the morning and to have a spacious living room.

West Bend House was conceived as an inhabited pathway, a means to traverse the long narrow site from the street to the expansive rear garden with views over the banks of Merri Creek. We wanted to give this family of five, with children quickly becoming young adults, the ability to be independent and have time apart but also create varied spaces to come together that were not necessarily constrained as living or dining spaces. Giving all members of the family spaces to be apart and spaces to be together.

Venus Bay is located in South Gippsland, a narrow peninsula of land with Bass Strait to the southwest and Anderson’s Inlet to the northeast. Hide House in Venus Bay is located on the crest of a sand dune amongst coastal Tea Tree. The house enjoys views of the waterways of the inlet to the north and the grassy tidal plains to the east while turning its back to the strong predominant south westerly winds that are a common feature of the area.

Architecture as a science emerged from Man’s humble need for shelter.  ‘A home’ is the purest form of design. However, modernized the skin, the spirit of a home is its timelessness, where architecture transcends fashion. Beyond a room with sturdy walls, a roof, a window, a hearth, all else is luxury’ 

Taking cues from the adjacent 1880’s Villas – form, scale, setbacks, roof profiles – a simple, contemporary palette of complementary materials and finishes was introduced. House and garden were orchestrated to reflect the owner’s generosity of spirit, modern taste, dynamic family lifestyle, and desire to engage with their suburban community.

Over the years, Spasm Design has been invited to design homes for families that enjoy our approach. The uniqueness of Spasm is that we have always endeavored to build the script of our architecture with the specificity of the place, the people, and the particular site. The material – Copper, in this case, sheathes a ventilated facade around the home …mitigating the extreme heat and increasing the life of the build immensely. An endearing exploration of spaces below, on, and above ground connected by a network of courtyards from intimate to regal, the family has been so forthcoming in realizing a true piece of Architecture.

Keep House is where a couple lives, work from home, and raises their two teenagers. Their corner block is a wedge shape, its rounded edge facing a park across the street, its back garden culminating in a triangle. The block is elevated from the street, placing it on view all along its extensive street frontage and from the park. They needed a house that would connect the parkland and garden to the family, yet guard their privacy on the inherently visible site.

The Artist’s residence is a project where the fundamental ethos of the architect and client resonated in perfect balance to develop a project of its kind. Here, the space you live in becomes a canvas that lets you paint your ideas and helps to generate creativity. The delicate bridge between art and architecture is broken down, amalgamating both into a single functional entity. The site is in Kasaragod District, having an area of 10 cents. Though small, the site is enriched with various trees, birds, butterflies, laterite boulders, and natural contours.  On the west lies valleys and hills from which a consistent wind rolls up the hills and fondles the site.