Semi-Detached Villas 20 & 22

Notes

Zeitoun's architectural style was best displayed in a series of villas he designed in a 1650 meters by 48 meters plot he bought himself, freeing himself from any limits set by clients. Two pairs of semi-detached villas were built, Villas 20/22 in 1954 and Villas 24/26 in 1958. 

In the two pairs he intended to have the interior space expand horizontally and vertically to the possible limits in order to create pleasantness, openness, and spaciousness. He also showed great attention to details of constitutive components and their synergy to create the whole. 

In each unit of the first villa pair, 20/22 villas, the entrance opens to a corridor leading to the living room on one end and the dining room on the other end. The double height space is set at the side of the villas benefiting from glazing, albeit non-uniform, on two levels. Remarkable is the play with levelling throughout the interior space as in the depressed seating area within the living space. Both fixed and moveable furniture, lightwells, and an exposed brick materiality are featured in the interior. The kitchen and dining room are visually open towards one another. These diverse interior experiences are set within a setting displaying materials in their natural state.


 

Sources

Abdelbaki Ibrahim, The Arab Architects: Salah Zeitoun, Center for Architecture and Planning Studies, Masr el-Gidida, 1987, p.25-29.

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