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ARABIA· RED SEA HOUSE

Project Data Location: Red Sea Coast. Project Architect: Esi Cakmakcioglu. Assistant Architect: D . Lombardo. Architecture and Project Management: Idea Centre, Saudi Arabia. Contractors: Owens Corning Saudi, USAf Saudi Arabia. Structural Consultants: Bingham Plades, UK. Fabric Structural Consultants: O . C. Birdair, USA. Services: ICDS Ireland. Landscape Consultants: Wirth Associates, USA. Interior Design: William Willis, Morocco. Built Area: 2,600 sq. m. Completion: 1986.

Saleem Bukhari

A long the Red Sea coast, above small hills covered with shrubs, sloping walls and granite boulders, are sails of

white tents. This unusual sight is a private residence.

In its setting, as in so many other aspects, this building represents many contrasts and tries to come to terms with many conflicts. Is it a small dwelling or a palazzo? In its approach to the use of materials, is it 'high tech' or traditional? In the lifestyle it represents, is it Arabian or is it part of the pervasive modern movement? How can this building be understood in the context of the contemporary society of Saudi Arabia?

The initial brief was only for a guest house that was a 'tent set in nature' . Over

1. A distant view of the house. (Photo: Neil Turner.)

a period this brief expanded to include the main residence. The final brief meant that the architect, Esi Cakmakcioglu, had to transform the concept into 2,600 square metres of accommodation. In other words a small palazzo had to look as though it was a tent dwelling. The solution was to put the bulk of the building at about sea level and to cover it over with earth to create a mini rolling landscape. The areas covered over with earth banks have courts sunk into them to provide views and light. The 'tent' consists of two fabric structures. The larger fabric structure covers the main reception and living area, the smaller structure covers the master bedroom.

The approach from the road is through a gate complex. This consists of gate

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2. The house under construction. This aerial view shows the main reception area before the erection of the fabric structures.

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Plan of the house.

Section.

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3 facilities, majlis areas and other services. The complex is laid out between two walls, parallel to the street, on a rectangular grid using clear geometric forms . The drive passes through this complex and into a garden where it turns left. The garden gently slopes up and is covered with shrubs, many in bloom. The drive curves slightly up and turns right into a circular court.

F acing the visitor is the first view of the 'tent', which up to now has been hidden by the garden. It is the third successive surprise after the formal gate complex and the luxuriant garden.

The fabric structure is almost domestic in scale. White painted walls cut through the slopes of the garden, gently rising towards the entrance. The fabric in turn scallops over the rising walls and is pulled towards the ground by tie-down anchorage points. One such point in front of the main entrance creates a shaded car

--- - _ 4 port. The cars are parked away from the court in a space tucked under an earth bank.

3. Interior view of the reception area. (Photo: M. Akram Khan.)

4. View of an inner courtyard. (Photo: Peter Moeller.)

5. The main entry door. View from inside, showing details of the wood-carved door and the zellij work on the wall and the floor. (Photo: M. Akram Khan.)

On either side of the main entrance, walls slightly recede and go down to a lower level forming hidden courtyards. Palm trees rise from below; the first indication that there may be many levels to this house. Two entrances, one on either side further along the walls, are two steps below the entry court level,

S providing another hint of a house on many levels.

In front of the main entrance a welcoming carpet is inlaid in Moroccan zellij (mosaic in glazed tiles). The door is also framed in a zellij border defining the entrance. The door itself, slightly larger than domestic, is hand-carved freely without a fixed pattern. In keeping with local tradition the main entrance has double doors with smaller openings in the leaves for daily use.

The fabric structure is made of glass­fibre coated with Teflon. The form is different from the cotton and goat-hair tents used in Arabia. But the visual vocabulary of tension structures is common and therefore a different shape adds interest though not surprise, for visitors.

The house is at two primary levels: the ground and the sea-level about three and a half metres below. The entry at ground level from the garden opens into a lobby. The design of the lobby allows the family to move around without being seen by visitors. The guest rooms and private offices are on the right and the family areas are on the left. The guest reception at sea level is reached by going down the steps on both sides of the lobby.

Moroccan craftsmanship is used extensively in internal finishes. For instance, the floor of the lobby and the

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reception hall is made up of white marble panels outlined in zellij. Similarly, the treads of the steps are zellij finished with teak wood nosing. Inlaid and carved wood is used to clad steel masts that support the fabric structure.

The fabric structure forms the ceiling and the roof of the reception haiL The light filtering through the fabric is cool and pleasant, and the seams accentuate its form. The reception hall has a glazed wall facing west towards the sea. This orientation creates problems of glare from the afternoon sunlight penetrating directly and also reflecting off the sea. A late revision of the floor plan reduced the shade by the fabric structure, thus increasing the problems of glare. The mashrabiyya screens are designed to protect from the glare.

The glazed 'screen wall' is undulating in plan. The fabric structure and the wall meet at varying contours . Below the fabric structure, running along the walls, is a glazed clerestorey of half a metre. This allows views of the fabric structure to be continuous from both inside and outside of the building. Black metal grilles in the form of foliage mark each of the panels of this glazing strip.

The reception hall is an amorphous space and its size is not immediately apparent. The formal seating area is to one side under the platform. In this area the ceiling, edge beams and capitals of the columns are made of finely carved wood. The designs are intricate geometric shapes . The seating arrangement, finishing and furnishings are consistently formal and arabesque.

A door from the reception hall leads down to a terrace below sea-level, projecting a like a granite peninsula into the sea. This area is designed for barbecues. Swimmers can sit on granite stools set in the sea, that are totally submerged at high tide, and join the counter. The fabric structure projects partially over this terrace, providing shade for the afternoons.

A passage to the right of the reception hall leads to a family lounge. This is a medium-sized room overlooking the sea on one side and children's pool on the north . This room perhaps most successfully brings together the different elements of interior design. The room is almost rectangular with rounded corners. The ceiling is of wood panels supported on wooden beams and is painted in exquisite Moroccan patterns. The floors are of handmade bricks, and the seating is also handmade in Morocco. The free form of the space sits comfortably with the geometric arabesque of the ceiling and furniture. The aesthetics, may be com­pared to those of an adobe construction in modern materials.

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6. Details of the fabric structures. (Photo: Peter Moeller.)

7. Aerial view of the fabric structures. (Photo: Peter Moeller.)

8. Detail of the parapet taken from the roof (Photo: Neil Turner.)

9. The main entry courtyard. (Photo: M. Akram Khan.)

Above the family lounge is the guest area. The walls are painted by an artist to give a textured finish, with colours changing like a Turner sunset. The windows are small, set in tapering arches framing outside views.

On the other side of the reception hall are the master bedroom suite, children's area, plant room and other services. The master bedroom has a Turkish bathroom! jacuzzi in a room with a circular dome. This room is also painted in impressionist colours evoking images of warm landscapes and blue skies.

On the side facing the sea, the building is partially hidden by the fabric structure. Elsewhere, huge granite boulders weigh­ing up to 25 tonnes each are carefully placed to hide the building and form a shore line, with terraces and small bays. This is where the garden meets the sea, forming another kind of landscape. It hides and also protects the building from the sea and the wind.

The sea was partially dredged to a depth of six metres to form a lagoon, a sea break and island and beaches. By lowering the sea-bed, the lagoon has become an extension of the coral reef The

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corals have begun to grow and new marine life has made its home here. In particular, a large manta ray has made the lagoon its territory and it glides in and out of the shark net at the mouth of the lagoon.

In conclusion, the building works on many levels. Despite its overall size, each of the components is intimate. Socially, the building allows a certain separation of family and guests, males and females, and formal and informal areas. In general, the use of materials and detailing of various architectural elements is excellent .

The interior scheme by William Willis was only partially implemented. It was understood that the client and his family wanted to choose the decorations themselves over a period of time. This background may explain why at present the building occasionally appears as an eclectic collection of decorative idioms. For instance, all the doors are hand­carved freely without a fixed design. This was presumably an attempt to synthesize the amorphous form of the residence and the geometric Moroccan crafts. Instead these doors seem to add another typology of design rather than create a bridge. The use of zellij in some cases appears forced ,

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such as in bathrooms where zellij walls and counters are excessive in this context, though common practice in Morocco.

The experience of the building can be likened to going on a picnic in the open desert and stretching out a beautiful carpet for a feast. The carpet anchors the desert to an aesthetic and sense of place within the amorphous space. It is in this sense that the building creates an illusion of freedom with organic free-flowing forms, views through the garden and across the sea, with a minimum of visible building. This freedom is then anchored by Moroccan crafts creating a character and identity. As a result, this building is firmly located as an Arab dwelling in Arabia .

In this context it is a tribute to the client and the design team, especially the architect, to have achieved a synthesis and created a .beautiful building with such disparate resources.

SALEEM BUKHARI IS A FREE-LANCE ARCHI­TECT .PLANNER. HE W AS AT THE HAJJ RESEARCH CENTRE IN JEDDA AND MECCA FOR 8 YEARS. HE IS NOW INVOLVED IN SHADING STRUCTURES FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE PROPHET'S MOSQUE ~MW~~, ~

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