Project name: A Contemporary Haven in Kfar Shmaryahu
Architecture: Raz Melamed Architects
Location: Kfar Shmaryahu, Israel
Photo: Amit Geron photographer
Year: 2025
Project description from design firms Raz Melamed Architects
In the heart of central Israel, architect Raz Melamed has crafted a villa that embraces its visitors with poetic balance — a seamless fusion of monumental architecture, natural light, and lush greenery.
A couple with three children acquired a one-dunam plot, approaching Melamed to design a home tailored to their family’s lifestyle. Their wish list was precise yet ambitious: a private suite for each child, a swimming pool overlooked by the master suite, and generous spaces for entertaining — including a large living and dining area with a separate kitchen.
Architectural Vision
The main challenge lay in positioning the house within the plot to optimize sunlight, views, and privacy, while adhering to the site’s technical and regulatory constraints.
Melamed’s design philosophy, evident across his body of work, revolves around absolute openness — creating uninterrupted floor-to-ceiling expanses that dissolve the boundary between indoors and outdoors.
In this project, that concept became both aesthetic and environmental. To avoid a greenhouse effect from the vast glass façades, the architect oriented the pool to the north, ensuring shaded interior and exterior lounging areas throughout the day.
The extensive glazing was made possible through a recessed steel column structure, allowing for invisible curtain tracks and maintaining visual continuity without compromise.
Exterior Expression
From the street, the villa presents a striking, cantilevered roof that appears to hover protectively over the plot — a sculptural element hinting at the steel framework that reappears indoors.
Entry is via a floating black bridge paved in gray stone, which also forms a pergola above a sunken courtyard at basement level — a dramatic prelude to the architectural experience within.
Interior Flow
The front door opens to polished concrete floors leading directly to the dining area, where a sculptural light fixture hovers above a solid wood table surrounded by slender, softly upholstered chairs. Behind it, a floating carpentry wall combines open shelving for décor and closed compartments for hidden systems — a minimalist composition that balances warmth and restraint.
A low, curved iron bookshelf subtly defines the boundary between dining and living spaces, echoing the soft curves of the furniture. The living area itself unfolds around a freestanding TV wall incorporating a sleek fireplace, creating both a focal point and a sense of transparency that extends toward the garden beyond.
Oversized planters, filled with abundant greenery, blur the line between inside and out, while a soft gray rug grounds the space in tactile comfort.
Lighting is carefully layered — recessed black strips emphasize architectural lines, functional white fixtures provide clarity, and suspended sculptural elements add depth and rhythm. Outdoor lighting is concealed within the roofline, outlining the structure through a delicate play of indirect illumination.
The Outdoor Realm
Every space on the ground floor overlooks the serene swimming pool, whose surface rests at courtyard level, creating a visual continuum of water and light.
Beneath the generous roof overhang lies an inviting outdoor lounge, furnished with organic curves and complemented by an airy dining zone and a fully equipped outdoor kitchen with a bar. Natural landscaping weaves together local stone, low vegetation, and sculptural boulders, composing a garden that feels both effortless and deliberate.
Private Quarters
The master suite, located on the main floor, faces the pool directly. The bed is framed by an upholstered surround that rises into the headboard, resting against a bespoke wooden wall. Floor-to-ceiling gray drapes envelop the space, offering intimacy when desired.
The adjoining bathroom features a freestanding bathtub and shower area centered around a floating wooden vanity mounted on dynamic terrazzo cladding with softly illuminated niches.
The guest bathroom nearby is a dramatic vertical space — five meters high — where a circular freestanding concrete sink and glowing niches stand against textured wall cladding like stage scenery.
Lower Level Serenity
A steel staircase with a solid metal balustrade — doubling as structural support — leads to the basement level, home to the children’s suites. Zoning regulations allowed a full lower level with its own garden rather than upper balconies, creating a unique semi-subterranean retreat flooded with natural light from large glass openings.
The courtyard outside hosts a cozy outdoor lounge surrounded by meticulously curated greenery — climbing, cascading, and blooming along low planters and walls.
Harmony in Contrast
In this home, linear modernism meets soft materiality.
Steel, glass, and concrete coexist with wood, fabric, and lush vegetation — a dialogue that expands the heart and redefines family living as an experience of calm sophistication.
