Tetris House / Massive Order


© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido
  • Architects: Massive Order
  • Location: Surra, Kuwait
  • Principal Architect: Muhannad Al-Baqshi
  • Design Team: Dana Omar, Hamad Alkhuliafi
  • Area: 500.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2016
  • Photographs: Nelson Garrido
  • Project Manager: Faisal Al-Hawaj
  • Construction Manager: Hamad Hussain
  • Construction: Massive Order

© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido

Text description provided by the architects. Tetris House sits on a 500 square meter lot with a 25 meters street front. The form is composed of three main painted masses carefully veiled by two cladded walls. Two of the masses are separated by the horizontal circulation path that is perpendicular to the third tall mass which houses the vertical circulation.


© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido

Ground Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido

The walls hover on the front façade with cutaways revealing certain openings and hiding others. A prominent element on the façade is the main door. The 4 by 4-meter wood composition are made of two disparate doors. One is low and wide for the daily entrance and the other is high and narrow for the guest entrance.


© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido

Diagram

Diagram

For the purpose of acquiring natural daylighting while maintaining the resident’s privacy, the windows are hidden and revealed by the outer layer of the house at varying degrees depending on their location on the elevation. Therefore the windows on the side elevation away from the main street tend to be larger and more exposed, while the ones on the main street remain hidden and tucked away. 


© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido

Natural elements were introduced to the interior spaces such as fountains, stones and plants and the material selection cover earthy tones and textures which gave the home a sense of serenity and warmth. For instance, the ground floor interior fountain was introduced to the reception space to behave as a sound and visual buffer between the reception area and the Living room therefor separating the public and semipublic spaces from one another. 


© Nelson Garrido

© Nelson Garrido