Pitsou Kedem Gem Graces Herzelia Pituah Shores, Tel Aviv

The Modern Octopus has featured the brilliance of Tel Aviv-based practice Pitsou Kedem Architects before. They now strike back with an equally metaphoric, nearly philosophic creation, the Herzelia Pituah House 3 – a flawless, textbook illustration of minimalism. The two-story concrete home is bare, linear and encased in glass. It makes heavy use of sheer metallic surfaces in chrome, white or black. The light fixtures alternate between post-romantic cascading chandeliers and industrial recessed lights. The flooring is smooth, light-hued laminate oak. The kitchen is wrapped in glazed windows, with a reflective pool outside, and operative lamellar blinds. The staircase which leads to the upper floor is a suspended, floating structure in black steel. Throughout the structure, wood is employed to add warmth to the concrete, while the slits in the blinds achieve intelligent natural light effects. The home ranked fourth in the buildings category of the Project of the Year Competition organized by Architecture of Israel Quarterly.

Herzelia Pituah is the neighborhood for the rich and famous in Tel Aviv. Located in Herzelia, a city in the western part of the Tel Aviv district, Herzelia Pituah is a neighborhood right on the coast, with 10,000 inhabitants, a 0.5 square kilometer marina with a mall and several gorgeous waterfront restaurants. There are no less than six luscious beaches there, of which one is included in a national park with archeological relics of a 6^th-5^th century BCE Phoenician village. Thus far, Pitsou Kedem have designed nine luxury homes in this resort-like part of town, ideally suited for those with ultra-contemporary penchants and the budget to appease them.

(Source: Pitsou.com)