Silver A' Design Award Winner 2022
Positioned at the intersection of vernacular building traditions and contemporary architectural innovation, Yaser and Yasin Rashid Shomali's Kujdane Holiday House represents a thoughtful meditation on dwelling within nature that honors the archetypal A-frame typology while transforming it through sophisticated formal manipulation and material refinement. The structure's most distinctive feature—the elegantly curved roof profile that sweeps upward from ground-hugging wings to a soaring central peak—demonstrates the designers' fluency in parametric thinking while maintaining the warm, approachable character essential to domestic architecture. The material strategy achieves remarkable synthesis: exposed timber cladding in warm honey tones creates visual and thermal comfort visible through the generous glass curtain wall, while the concrete platform and dark roof membrane ground the structure with necessary gravitas and weather resistance. The fenestration arrangement warrants particular attention, as the irregular grid of mullions creates visual rhythm that prevents monotony while the expansive glass area dissolves conventional boundaries between interior sanctuary and forest environment, allowing each to permeate the other through reflection and transparency. The elevated positioning on concrete pilotis serves multiple functions: practical separation from ground moisture, creation of sheltered outdoor space beneath, and visual lightness that allows the primary volume to appear to float among the trees. The outdoor terrace with its intimate fire feature and minimal furnishings extends habitable space into the landscape, suggesting an architecture of outdoor living and forest immersion. Smoke rising from the chimney introduces temporal dimension and human presence, transforming the structure from object to dwelling, from architecture to home. One might consider how this design negotiates the persistent human desire for shelter and prospect, for sanctuary that simultaneously embraces and frames the wild.
Kujdane retains the old while blending it with the new. It still has that A-frame silhouette like a traditional cabin in the woods but takes a step closer and sees that the structure has been tweaked with modern architectural elements. Wood is of course the element of choice to evoke that warm, cozy, cabin vibe and is complimented with cool-toned interior details for balance. The cabin is elevated by the sloping A-frame sides which makes it look like it is effortlessly hovering above ground level without visible stilts or pillars.