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Karim Nader’s “House For A Gemini” Holds Two Houses In One

In this renovation of an old family home, private and public functions are separated as memory becomes the harmonious element that holds past and present together

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Metro.Style Team

<div><br/></div><p>With a massive body of work in both architectural theory and practice, Lebanese avant-garde architect, <a href="https://www.karimnader.com/" target="_blank">Karim Nader</a> began his practice and academic work in 1999.  Continuing to enrich the discourse on design, Nader counts the 	<a href="https://www.archdaily.com/551715/amchit-residence-blankpage-architects" target="_blank">Amchit Residence</a>, the <a href="https://archello.com/it/project/the-banque-du-liban-cma" target="_blank">BDL-CMA building </a>and the<a href="https://www.archdaily.com/972476/house-on-the-rocks-karim-nader-studio" target="_blank">House On the Rocks</a> in his portfolio of acclaimed built projects that have been published extensively.   He has taught students at the <a href="https://www.aub.edu.lb/" target="_blank">American University in Beirut</a> and the<a href="https://www.polimi.it/en" target="_blank"> Politecnico de Milano</a>, while his book, 	<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Novel-Architecture-Cine-Roman-2000-2020/dp/8862424795" target="_blank">For a Novel Architecture, ciné-roman 2000-2020</a>, was awarded 	<a href="https://www.legestedor.com/" target="_blank">Le Geste d’Or</a> in Paris two years ago.</p><div><br/></div><p>Nader embarked on a renovation of a family home, where the user&#x27;s public and private functions are separated by a clear delineation: a partition which allows for the doings of these two areas in life to be performed separately.  Traces of the old family home remain, all while being re-imagined with harmonious links to its past.  </p><div><br/></div><p>In the architect&#x27;s words, he describes the home:</p><div><br/></div><p>&#x27;The house for a Gemini had to become two. Split in half and clad in grey, it housestwo houses in one, one public and one private with a sliding partition in-between.&#x27;</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/1f62c196-0bd2-4113-aabe-16f1cea038eb_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7945 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"> Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Walid Rashid  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>&#x27;Remembrances of things past resurface on a canvas of gray, but a luminous gray, likethe translucent mist of an imminent dawn. The space which is now called loft wasonce the family house, also the uncle’s office, and the architect’s, now his own house,himself having now become an uncle.&#x27;</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/e2b050d9-a193-4fcb-bd79-6dd73960f75d_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7836 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"> Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Walid Rashid  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><strong>Related Story: </strong><a href="/living/makeovers/karimoku-pop-up-showroom-milan-design-week-by-norm/35528" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Japandi Takes Over Milan In This Dreamy Showroom</a></div><div><br/></div><p>&#x27;A renovation as a rerun, or a second take on something that once was. Memoriesof the past uses persist and create superpositions of program that defy the usualnorms of functionality: a main kitchen diametrically opposed to the dining space, abedroom too far from its bathroom door, an entrance too wide to be just an entrance.But those clashes emit a new energy. What was once the dining buffet, enlarged,becomes the support for a program that never was in the picture: a yoga platform.&#x27;</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/91b4e495-1894-4649-8bda-4226013b4d03_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7868 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"> Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Walid Rashid  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>&#x27;The wall that separated the house that was rented from the office that saw the birthof the first architecture office becomes rice paper thin, mobile, in Japanese shoji style,discreetly sliding in various reconfigurations of space and multiple visual effects. Thechildren&#x27;s bedroom becomes black as the presentation room, could receive the nowgrown up nephews, the occasional friend or the child to come.&#x27;</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/2837af16-5a03-45cd-a788-214b429d5010_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8014 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"> Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Walid Rashid  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>&#x27;As for the previousoffice entrance, its door is now a window, but the family garden remains as luminousfrom the now home office with a stone wall background that was once outdoors.&#x27;</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/29bf6e78-9a53-4400-b832-c0f3c12e2182_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8056 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"> Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Walid Rashid  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><strong>Related Story: </strong><a href="/living/makeovers/palazzo-dei-diamanti-restoration-by-labics/34964" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inside A Thoughtful Restoration Of An Iconic Renaissance Palazzo</a></div><div><br/></div><p>&#x27;At the intersection of those souvenirs that trail a public loop house on the gardenterrace side and a private loop house on the inner side, lies the musical. The uprightpiano, surmounted by a calligraphic trinity of presence, absence and the transcendentexpresses my dire need for harmony in the entrance that is too wide to just be anentrance.&#x27;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>See the cinematic moments within this home in the gallery below:</strong></div><div><br/></div><div class="article-content" itemProp="articleBody"><div class="media-content"><div class="slider-for"><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/b10ff22e-2a2c-4455-9e30-b119f4d4cc27_karim nader house for a gemini_landscape 3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/d48a055e-4c79-4029-8e3e-5b83a4c19f80_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7857 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/e365da12-6e49-4c90-9c58-02b5952e5b9f_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7836 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/c8a34a08-b1b2-4cab-8658-e9967cefe474_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7888 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/5814ff56-3c64-45b0-9f49-f4d5fbcb2807_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7941 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/f06c7af4-97e6-469b-9070-1530cb902f91_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 7947 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/991013a5-15e2-40f4-ac76-5fd67645eb6d_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8014 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/2ed4d29c-90e8-4128-a222-061190e7b93a_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8022 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/5ea9a25d-61cc-4b47-beea-512bec9569de_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8071 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/1cdd750a-333a-430d-bbf6-2f1c95805b75_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8083 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/c288a8bb-3e68-4052-9567-0642229f1b9a_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8089 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/6ac0e47a-a2bb-426c-862b-3a5584df4544_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8121 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/918421c5-e67e-42ba-b839-71753013e214_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8123 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/04440b64-020a-4042-b324-c06d8c238eb6_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8404 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div><div><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/1ae544b3-4c60-452f-b3c5-d010ea9753e4_karim nader studio - gemini house - ph 8139 - photo by walid rashid_lr 3000px.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"/></div></div><div class="media-content slider-desc"><div class="item-desc"><div></div></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>House For A Gemini - Karim Nader, Gemini House, Ghazir, Lebanon.<cite>Walid Rashid</cite></p></div></div></div></div>