House with Double-Height Living Room by Ronnie Friedman
This house, located in Nahariya, Israel, was designed by Ronnie Friedman in 2020. The clean design style provides maximum privacy and separation from the street due to the dense nature of the surrounding neighborhood. This house features an enclosed façade that creates a transitional space to reinforce intimacy and detachment from the street, framing views toward a distant horizon visible from the upper floor.
Solid, Enclosed Façade Provides Privacy
This house was designed for a family — a couple in their forties and their two children. From the initial meetings with the clients, during which the core design principles were established, it became clear that the house needed to provide maximum privacy and separation from the street due to the dense nature of the surrounding neighborhood.
Transitional Space Creates Intimacy & Detachment
The architectural response to this need was the creation of a solid, enclosed façade — a “shell” that forms the front of the house. This shell leads into an intermediate open-air space, exposed to the sky, which one passes through before entering the main house. This transitional space creates a sense of intimacy and detachment from the street, offering visual and emotional distance in a densely populated setting. It also frames a view toward a distant horizon, visible from the upper floor.
Double-Height Living Room With Mezzanine
The house is organized such that the main two-story residential volume faces the street. The central space on the ground floor features a double-height ceiling in the living area, which can be viewed from the upper level where all the bedrooms are located. Access to the bedrooms is via a hallway or bridge that plays an integral role in the double-height space.
Studio Unit For Future Expansion
On the ground floor are the living room, dining area, and kitchen. At the rear of the house, with a separate entrance, is a studio unit with its own double-height space. This area provides the homeowners with flexibility, allowing for a workspace, clinic, rental unit, or future expansion of the home as the family evolves and grows over time.
Photography courtesy of Ronnie Friedman
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