The low-rise neighborhood made of family houses in the central part of Kyiv is becoming increasingly denser, with new typologies being introduced into the urban tissue. The design commission was to conceive two family houses with rich functional programs on this relatively small plot with an area of a little more than five hundred square meters and a nine-meter difference in topography. We decided to use a hybrid scheme that combines features of an urban villa, a terraced house, and a townhouse. This decision made it possible to meet all the design requirements.

As a result, the house rests on two stylobates located on two different levels defined by the landscape. Each platform accommodates shared living rooms that extend into terraces, with embedded utility rooms and parking spaces for both families. They are topped by cubic volumes of bedrooms with small “cavities” for open-air landings.

In the core of each house there is a staircase and an elevator. The latter comes in especially handy for the dwellers of the modern four-story house.

The upper terraces enjoy a view over the the hilly landscape of Kyiv.