I still
don’t know how
I first stumbled
upon the news
of the Secret
House, but somehow
I ended up
on Wallpaper’s blog.
It was the
name that caught
my attention: “The Secret
House”. I was immediately
intrigued, was this one of
those houses that
appears magically once
the visitor reads
off the address from
a piece of
parchment à la
Harry Potter style? To my disappointment, there
was no shield
of invisibility or
anything of the
sort, but that
was as far
as my disappointment had
gone once I
saw the photos.
I must admit,
the house created
by the Spain
and Kuwait based
practice AGI Architects
was beautifully designed.
Traditional houses
in Kuwait were
designed to adapt to
the desert climate,
so the distance
between the built volumes
were minimal, which
would result in shaded
walkways between houses.
The spaces between these
volumes worked well
as temperature regulators, but as a
result, these houses
had privacy but
limited views. The Secret House, on the other hand, used
tightly spaced volumes to create a sense of privacy while also providing views of the surrounding city.
Due to
the dry and
hot climate of
Kuwait City, mist cools the
courtyard of this
house while shielding
it from nosy neighbours.
This mist operates
at a timer,
heaving up and
around the house
to keep it
cool. The living areas
and bedrooms are
located in the
ground and first
floors, whilst the
garage is situated
in the basement.
Passages and hidden
areas aimed at
seclusion is what gave
the house the
name: ‘The Secret
House’.
AGI Architects
stated that “This
house was a
very peculiar request.
Typically the client
has a specific
program and an
actual site, and
our job is
to make the
two complement one
another. In the
case of the
Secret House, the
client was occupying
the given site
in a house
that neither met
their aesthetic desires,
nor their programmatic
needs. This design
becomes a personal
expression of their
present conditions, and
at the same
time creates a
space capable of
holding their hopes
for the future.
“It is
a place with
great potential, with
wonderful views of the city,
and a family
who wants privacy.
We plan to
design a system
that would unify
these requirements: a
house that looks
towards the inside
and only at
the top level
opens up to
views towards the
skyline of the
city.”
The ‘Secret
House’ is one of AGI
Architects’ impressive projects.
Click here for
more of their
projects and designs.
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