Ur2 Duplex Residential

Ur2 Duplex Residential

Ur2 Duplex Residential is an innovative architectural project that exemplifies the harmonious integration of contemporary design with landscape engagement, completed in 2008. This sophisticated duplex development, recognized with a Silver A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design category, demonstrates a masterful approach to addressing complex site constraints while creating distinctive living spaces. The structure, conceived through an invited design competition, reimagines the conventional developer duplex typology by implementing two distinct organizational geometries layered horizontally across a challenging triangular site of 1,425 square meters. The 674-square-meter development features a steel frame construction complemented by metal shingles and concrete exterior finishes, while the interior showcases refined materials including concrete floors, plaster wall finishes, and maple casework. A central water court serves as the project's most prominent design element, creating a compressed entry experience while simultaneously addressing practical concerns such as unit separation and traffic noise mitigation. The architectural composition employs telescoping site walls that establish property boundaries while connecting living spaces to the distant landscape, with horizontal extensions of the reflecting pool integrated into the floor and ceiling planes. The design's sophisticated approach to water, light, and architectural elements creates animated interior settings that enhance awareness of the site's phenomenological aspects, while the triangulated geometry, informed by adjacent landforms, manifests in inflected and cantilevered box trusses that create simple, tumbled rock-like volumes.

residential architecture, contemporary design, landscape integration, duplex development, water features, sustainable living

— Adam Dawson