HR House by Nimrod Cohen
HR House anchors a young family’s move to Kibbutz Kfar Haruv in Israel, reshaping a standard contractor build into a composed house by Nimrod Cohen. The renovation leans on clear geometry and an assured material hand to connect daily life with the southern Golan Heights landscape. What began as a generic shell now reads as a measured, modern home with broad openings, cohesive elevations, and a calm interior rhythm.
Low light slides across a pale oak floor as the garden rises beyond the glass. From the entry, broad openings pull the eye toward the southern horizon and the Sea of Galilee.
This is a house renovation in Kibbutz Kfar Haruv by Nimrod Cohen, and the brief is clear: adapt a contractor shell into a coherent home. The work focuses on a restrained palette and rebalanced facades to reconnect rooms with the outdoors. It centers on material clarity and the way construction choices shape daily rhythm.
Reframe The Facades
Outside, the elevations shift from scattered openings to a rhythm of measured apertures. New window proportions align horizontally and vertically, giving the house a steady face to the street and garden. The result is quiet order, not fuss. Balanced voids now draw air and views, reinforcing the bond between interior rooms and planted ground.
Make Structure Visible
Inside, exposed concrete columns once read as awkward obstacles; now they register as the project’s hinge. Their cool mass sets a tempo for circulation and anchors joinery and openings around them. Concrete carries the eye—then the touch. Paired with precise aluminum details, the columns lend weight and clarity without crowding family life.
Open Rooms, Clear Lines
Public rooms merge into one continuous zone that extends to the garden through wide sliders. Sightlines run clean from cooking to dining to the terrace, making gatherings easy and movement straightforward. Minimal carpentry keeps storage flush and quiet. With fewer thresholds and broader spans, the plan breathes while still holding shape.
Oak, Concrete, Light
A soft monochromatic palette ties rooms together, with natural oak warming concrete’s cooler register. Floors, stair treads, and built-ins share tone, letting light skim surfaces without glare. Aluminum arrives in subtle finishes for frames and hardware. The trio of materials does the heavy lifting, setting a calm backdrop for daily mess and kibbutz-paced routines.
Garden As Room
Wide openings turn the terrace into a seasonal living room, and the line between interior and plantings shortens. Morning sun lands on the kitchen table, while evenings push the family outdoors under shaded overhangs. Views reach south to rolling fields and water. The house holds that horizon lightly, never shouting for attention.
Late light returns to the oak and steals across the concrete. The house feels grounded yet open, its materials doing quiet, consistent work. On this rise in the Golan, restraint finds a steady home.
Photography courtesy of Nimrod Cohen
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