Norhouse / Aaksen Responsible Aarchitecture

Architects: Aaksen Responsible Aarchitecture
Location: Cibeunying Kaler, Indonesia
Lead Architects: Yanuar Pratama Firdaus, Gea Sentanu
Area: 104.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: KIE

Construction: ASEPDEV (Aesthetical in Engineering Process)
Construction Team: Agusti Salman Farizi, Gun Gun Yuliansyah, Arif Rahmansyah
Furniture: Jatilog
Video: Qrimson
Calligraphy And Graphics: Monoponik

Courtesy of Aaksen Responsible Aarchitecture

Text description provided by the architects. Urban residential development increases rapidly with the advancement of life expectancy in urban areas. Aside from expensive land prices and low quality of life, it is not difficult to find dense settlements in the middle of the city. Most of those have no access to big vehicles, even though there is a road nearby.

Located in a dense settlement with a narrow alley as the only access, precisely in Jalan Pahlawan, Bandung, West Java – Indonesia, NOR House is a residence of a couple, Sisca, and Ovian. The two-floor house was completed in early 2018. The name of NOR House itself is taken from their children, Adara Kaila Eleanor and Sophia Cyrilla Eleonora, who have the word nur or light in Arabic as part of their name.

The name inspired us to put the element of the sun into the design. Since millions of years ago, the sun consistently rises dawn and set in the early dusk. In Islam, the communication between humans and God is called the five times of obligatory ritual prayer in which the five times indicate the transition of the sun. The obligatory ritual prayer was also our inspiration to design a house with the sun and light as the narrative of the architecture.

The number of openings in the building maximizes the natural light and good air circulation. The use of artificial light, in the form of a hidden lamp and indirect lighting, accentuates the detail in some areas. The example is indirect light used on parahyba tree in the garden to emphasize its trunk standing upright as though it has pierced and made a hole in the main building mass. In the prayer room, a window was installed to make an impression as though it trimmed the main building’s mass. The window also provides the light during daytime. The strong lighting coupled with the word of Allah (God) on the window surface create the writing’s shadow in the prayer room’s interior.

With a total area of 105 m2, NOR House has a contemporary tropical architectural concept with white-colored, zinc-coated roof surface and facade. Its building mass and the white color make the NOR House very tidy and distinctive compared with the surrounding buildings when viewed from the air. For the building interior, ivory-colored ceramic combined with parquet flooring and white wall give a simple and clean touch in all residential area.

NOR House maximizes the space for its residents in two floors. The first floor has an area of 57 m2 consists of living room, dining room, kitchen, toilet, prayer room, drying room, and garden. The second floor, with an area of 48 m2, has a master bedroom, kid bedroom, and a bathroom. Ultimately, in addition, to address the needs of the owners and the challenges of dense settlement, NOR House presents the interpretation of connections among humans and the greatness of the Creator through its appreciation on sunlight that always accompanies us every day.