New challenges

An experienced couple teams up once again to design their new home here.

By GLORIA DEUTSCH
Modernist home (photo credit: URIEL MESSA)
Modernist home
(photo credit: URIEL MESSA)
Before making aliya in 2005, architect Sarah Balcombe Ryb had worked on large community projects in her native London; But when it came to designing their homes, she collaborated with her husband, David Ryb, who had studied product and interior design.
They renovated their first home, a small apartment, and then a small house in trendy Highgate, which they completely gutted.
Altogether they renovated four homes in eight years.
Moving to Ra’anana and building their home here presented a completely new set of challenges.
“For example, in England you had to worry about it being cold while here you have to deal with the heat,” they say.
They were also aware of other environmental issues not encountered previously – like trying to preserve some of the old citrus trees blooming on the plot they acquired and discovering that the old house, which was knocked down, was built essentially on sand.
The site, on a very high location in Ra’anana, had several idiosyncrasies which complicated the building process. It was long – 800 meters – but a peculiar wedge shape, which meant that it was 22 meters wide and at the back only nine. It also sloped up two and a half meters to the back.
“We worked with the landscape and oriented the house so we get a westerly breeze pulling through,” they say.
For the design they had very specific ideas.
“We were very conscious that while we love the modernist look, it has to be balanced with having a comfortable home for the family,” they say.
They knew they wanted a lot of glass but didn’t want direct sunlight, so on the south side they built a very thick wall and allowed the light to pour in from the three other sides.
From the outside, the house looks like two adjacent buildings bonded together – one is a modernist block, the second part a long low narrow section covered in cedar wood cladding – what Sarah describes as a modern take on a barn – adjoined to a perfect concrete cube.
The entrance is on the side and one walks through a portico into a small hallway with one wall painted in fuchsia and a cupboard in red. Turning the corner one is greeted with the view of the entire length of the house past the kitchen with its bright red chairs into the back garden.
The pool is deliberately not visible from the house.
“We didn’t want it to look ostentatious,” they say. To the left, two sitting rooms welcome the visitor, one on a slightly lower level than the other, but united in their color schemes of neutral grays with white and black accents. The idea is to have a formal lounge and then to go two steps down into a television and den-like section, which is more relaxed.
“You feel nestled and closed off in the lower level,” explains Sarah.
The formal lounge has a pebble fireplace and Sarah’s paintings are displayed and in other parts of the house, often introducing a much wanted touch of fuchsia or splashes of yellow.
“We deliberately chose very neutral furniture to create a backdrop and which we punctuate with artwork in color,” they say. “Red and orange shades run throughout the house.”
In the upper lounge the dominant color is gray, with lilac cushions highlighting the sofas. In the lower is a walnut sideboard that relieves the monochrome, as do the toning brown-shaded rugs.
“We don’t want color to be the feature but only as an accent,” they say. The walls are off-white, as they wanted to avoid the glare of pure white.
The kitchen is in their eyes a very important room – the “hub of the house” – and it was important for them to site it in the middle. From here Sarah can keep an eye on the three children.
The bar has glass on three sides and they describe it as an ice cube. The fourth side is stainless steel and all the drawers are accessed from the back. Wood and marble add a different dimension and the room is a pleasing combination of different colors and textures.
It is also convenient for entry into the adjacent dining room with the white, glass-topped table and modern chairs The bedrooms are upstairs and the basement has a large guest suite, David’s office, from which he runs his hi-tech company, and Sarah’s studio. The three levels each have 200 square meters of space.
“We love the houses we design,” they say, “and this one is special. We feel as though we are on holiday all the time, and occasionally we punctuate the holiday with work!”