Built Area: 5,000 sq.ft| Location: Karimbhai Housing Society, Super Highway, Karachi

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Hyder has a young family and lives with his parents. 

 Many houses in the neighborhood had popped up in the last couple of years that maximized space utilization. Being a modern corporate professional, he wanted the house to be very modern and contemporary in terms of outlook and aesthetics.

This made us rethink all things we had done up till now for compact residential units. A ground-plus-two unit – our priority here was to increase the amount of natural light coming into the house.

As we enter the house, we made a semi-outdoor space – inspired by the idea of an ‘Otaq’ in the Gujrati culture – that serves as a buffer space between the street and the actual living space. We designed a central courtyard that brings light into the house through big windows placed on the facade. Taking that approach forward to the personal spaces, each room has windows on both sides to get the light in and also provide for cross ventilation. 

The house has no stair tower. To make the space seem bigger we incorporated double-height space in the main courtyard. The first and the second floor have their own balconies on multiple heights, having their own gardens in them. 

The house looks like a ‘single vertical whole’ in which levels do not show.  

Architect: Hussain Jesserwalla