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Architects: BMA - Besian Mehmeti Architects
- Area: 800 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Vase Petrovski
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Manufacturers: GRAPHISOFT, Grohe, Artemide, Emmeti, GENTAS, Gewiss, Knauf, Laminam, NATUZZI
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Lead Architect: Besian Mehmeti
Text description provided by the architects. The SD Residence occupies a compact plot, located in a rationally urbanized late 70s neighborhood in the outskirts of Tetovo, North Macedonia with a panoramic view towards the Sharr Mountains.
The client commissioned a house to provide accommodation for a multi-generational family. Besides typical spaces for the family, the house should accommodate other amenities; a pool, wellness, and playrooms for the kids. The most prominent space in the house should be the social area. Connected with the unified dining and living rooms, the kitchen should be spacious and communicate into a semi-covered space belonging to an outdoor area that allows the living room and dining area to expand into the exterior. Regarding the private areas, seven bedrooms were commissioned: three en suite master bedrooms and four children bedrooms separated from the former, all of them with their own bathrooms. It was decided that the program would be stacked on multiple levels due to the restrains of the site.
The design of the building is driven by the content and its urban context. White volumes with various programs are stacked to form a structure incorporating several voids that become terraces or spaces into which windows and planters are slotted.
At the heart of the home, wooden sculptural stairs set on top of each other define an axis for vertical circulations around which all spaces are organized. While on the ground floor they release the living room from the private master bedroom, upstairs they separate the master and secondary bedrooms and the common area on the top floor, according to what the client asked for.
The entrance is not only a space for taking off the shoes; we aimed to create a semi-covered space for various events that extends to the garden. Some of the rooms open onto terraces that seamlessly extend the living areas onto the building's exterior. Others incorporate large windows that enable daylight to penetrate the spaces while achieving an insular sense of privacy. The lowest level – basement, contains a leisure and wellness area along with the technical room; the ground floor mainly accommodates the public domain of the house, and the upper levels (the first and second floor) private bedrooms.
The interiors are made of white wall surfaces and dark solid wood floors. The layout of the spaces leaves enough room for free circulation between the furniture and allows for an individualized reading of each piece. Boards and furniture are made of wood and solid surfaces to add warmth to the white backdrop. The kitchen at the rear of the living room features a stone-like counter.
The facades are clad in a puzzle of whiteboards of hanging panels, interrupted by recessed windows of varying dimensions set at different heights to frame views of the surrounding mountains. The wood-like surfaces surrounding the windows introduce a warm contrast and interrupt the uniform and homogenous facade. Beneath the “wrapping” of the house, a thermal insulation component system ensures the energy efficiency of the building.
The façade panels and materials in use meet the latest technical requirements in the fields of energy efficiency, noise, and fire protection. Altogether, the SD Residence provides an environment that is simultaneously a lush celebration of the client’s many accomplishments, and warm and casual space for both physical and mental relaxation with family and friends.
