This eight-storey apartment building’s design resulted, in part, from the limited surface area and the bordering narrow street, as well as the need for both daylight and privacy. The response was to confine load-bearing features to the party walls and vertical circulation core in order to provide each unit with sliding glass windows from floor to ceiling on the front facade and to free up the floor-plans. To mitigate for the lack of privacy, a second skin of wooden lattice-work and plants was installed. Playing with the notions of public and private, inside and outside, the glass sliding doors can be hidden, attaching the living-room to a narrow balcony, and exposing the apartment to the street.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture