Jewellery Artist House - Atelier

The house – atelier has been designed for a young Saudi jewellery artist who wished to have a private living and working space expressing her soul and creations, within the garden of her family’s main residence where she currently lives.

As the family-owned plot is surrounded by a chaotic concentration of residences, shops and a school, the main concern was to create a structure completely disconnected from its surrounding and from the family house, with a peaceful inner sanctuary isolated from the disturbances of the outside world.

The proposed building consists of a cylindrical volume embracing a rectangular one. The cylinder acts as a protective closed wall with a single narrow opening serving as the entrance, while the inside rectangle accommodates fluidly all the house functions necessary for the everyday life of the artist: a bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen and an atelier. The interior space interacts smoothly with the serene outdoor atrium, a large terrace garden with one symbolic tree and a circular water feature.

By means of this composition, the ring-shaped structure figuratively resembles a cocoon ensuring a sense of intimacy and calmness for the house, that closes itself completely from the surroundings.

It is a protected haven clearly expressing the soul of the artist, where she can retreat and let herself grow both as an independent person and a genuine designer. Inside her compact house and atelier, the artist can have a good rest, receive family and friends, work freely, experience new jewellery materials and forms, expand her imagination, ideas and techniques, and give birth to her creations.

MZ Architects is a multi-award winning architecture firm founded and lead by Marwan Zgheib since 2002. Initially based in Qatar, the firm won several architectural competitions and had the opportunity to acquire extensive experience in designing and developing high-rise buildings in the midst of the construction boom in the country.
Within a few years, MZ Architects became one of the leading architecture and consultancy groups in Qatar and in the Gulf, with a regional office in Abu Dhabi.
In 2007, MZ Architects’ headquarters were reassigned in Lebanon as an architecture and urban planning firm