He was just a child, stepping into his teenage years, when I first worked with his father’s locally renowned company to construct a wooden pergola for our new house, which we were building at the time. It was a minor project, but we earned each other’s respect, and from that point on, we kept an eye on one another.

So, it came as no surprise when, a decade and a half later, he and his partner approached me to design a family house for their emerging family. In the meantime, he had taken over his family business and expanded it from a locally respected company to one with a global reach.

He brought that same drive and expertise into this project. Throughout the process, I was deeply impressed by their determination, positive attitude, and constructive approach to tackling the challenges and obstacles that inevitably arise in a project like this.

The compact house features everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t.

From a design perspective, it adheres to the key principles of local architectural typology while simultaneously transforming them into something entirely new. Thanks to the clients’ openness to stepping outside the box, we introduced some initially unconventional ambient design solutions. Yet, in the end, every decision followed one fundamental principle: to keep the family connected.