Balkeir Villa

During the Second World War, the poet Abdullah Balkeir was a secretary and interpreter to King Abdulaziz and Minister of Information to King Faisal. He phoned us one day and asked to draw up the project for a family villa. His wife Aida, who was born in Jerusalem, asked me to bear in mind – when designing the building – her great love for the flowers and plants from the gardens of Palestina. So we drew up a project that embraced the typology of Arab house, articulated around interior courts and gardens, with the forms and solar colors of traditional Mediterranean architecture. The outcome was a truly serene home, so very suited to the image and personality of its owners.