Mtein - Sami Nasrallah Residence
Whether or not to consider the presence of the two existing buildings in the landscape was our main concern.
They were approximately 7m apart, at a random angle with a 2m difference in elevation, both accessible from the east side where the family usually lived.
The plot plan idea
The idea of creating a three house cloister around a piazza came to view; thus reviving the old traditional “housh” as found in Deir el Qamar, Beiteddine, and some typical old houses in Damascus and Aleppo.
Lucky move! The owners liked the idea and were enthusiastic about it. The aim now was to design a new "housh" linking the two old houses with the new one. We settled to a U-shaped piazza opening to the main view, whereby the new added block helped creating a corner, insuring a kind of micro-climate shelter, against the northern wind in winter time.
The same volume vocabulary was adopted by keeping the new wall height 5m all around with a 36 degree pitched roof. The existing natural landscape within the courtyard: one oak tree, one olive tree and one birch tree were saved under the owner’s supervision. The stone texture of the old buildings was also reproduced by local Mtein builders.