The Beyler House

The Beyler House is a concept project of what a house could be and perhaps what it should be. After experimenting with natural building designs at Reflections Camp in Kabak Valley, I realized I wanted to build something with a design style that mainstream building didn’t offer in Turkey. A layout that curved along with the land, something so pleasing to the eye yet strong, functional and ecologically sound, that it would be inspiring. In building The Beyler House Project we’ve set out to build something unique, yet enduring; A well built structure with attention to the nature that surrounds us as well as the beauty and spirituality of that nature.

When you first enter the Moon Gate with its polished natural branches you know there are special things to come. The most prominent of these is the 11.5 meter diameter double frame reciprocal roof. This combination of a conical frame supported by a reciprocal frame existed only in Japan and now in our latest project.

Design wise Project exudes thoughtful consideration of both the surrounding nature and spiritual nature inherent to all of us. Both the main house and the guest house are circular in shape with amazing Japanese inspired reciprocal roofs. The main house is conceived with a yin yang floor plan that subtly compliments the concept of infinity of the reciprocal roof. An open loft and 4.5 meter walls that soar to 5.5 meters at the apex create a sense of space not easily found in typical homes.

: An accurate finished render of the project.

: The main entrence of the house and the moon gate.

: A finished render of the backyard area. In reality we have moved the fire pit to the right in consideration of the wind. As well, in the foreground we have added an outside dining space and a bar area just to the left of the pool. Finally, the guesthouse in the background will be a cordwood house.

: An accurate finished picture of the inside of the main house. As well, the ceiling material covering the frame is different in order to showcase the frame work better.

: The bathroom wall and the reciprocal roof and you can see the living room all together.

: The kitchen area. We will add cabinets across the stone wall.

: Extensive use of natural branches can be found throughout the project. Stripped of their bark, treated and varnished they are in themselves works of art.

: The double frame roof: conical form frame supported by both itself and the reciprocal frame underneath

: The finished frame work for the roof of the main house.

Because of legal requirements the main house of the project is built using a concrete frame and foundation. In order to offset the huge amount of carbon output of concrete we insulated the house up to four times more efficiently than the typical home. For the wall system we actually built 2 walls parallel to each other separated by 20 cm in which we filled with expanded perlite in order to reach American standards of insulation values. This also allowed us to leave large spaces for multiple windows to take in the extensive views of the surrounding olive groves and hills.

: Large windows mean great lighting throughout the year.

: Low sun in the winter months means warm sunshine helping to passively heat the house.

: A curved stone tv wall on the left.

: The living room is sunk 40 centimeters below the kitchen level.

: A built in bookcase with yet to be installed carved wood panelling.

: Upper windows and the roof eave composed of hundreds of natural branches.

: The upper windows allow more light for the loft area as well as a great view.

Every curve in the project flows gracefully and leads to another beautiful line. From the 450 square meters of stone retaining walls to the subtlety of the yin yang shape within the house no line seems out of place.

What we’ve done is incorporate several considerations into our endeavour: Aesthetically, we’ve used nature as design and emphasized spatial considerations. Ecologically and sustainably, we’ve made use of both mainstream building materials as well as natural building materials to emphasize the concepts of thermal insulation and thermal mass. Besides the moon gate we used polished natural branches for the privacy wall in the loft area, for railings and bracing supports throughout the project. We stripped each branch of its bark, dried them for over a year, sanded them and varnished. An amazing amount of work with an equally amazing outcome. Most importantly, we have built a house that will be as strong and lasting as it is beautiful.

: Floating staircase painstakingly anchored into the bathroom stone wall.

: A view of the reciprocal frame ceiling is visible from nearly everywhere in the house.

: Glass doors that lead to pool area and entrance to bathroom on the right.

: The upper windows allow more light for the loft area as well as a great view.

: Statuesque natural wood, sanded and polished.

: The exceptional moon gate is the entrance point to The Beyler House. The polished branches are a hint of what’s to come.

: A glimpse of the backyard area from inside the main house.

: The living room is sunk 40 centimeters below the kitchen level.

: Plenty of electrical outlets everywhere.

Other features include the semi open bedroom reached by 12 floating Sapeli wood planks anchored into the natural stone bathroom wall onto an unseeable separate steel frame. The 4.5 meter high chimney is always in view as is the amazing ceiling. There is an overwhelming sense of space inside the house which makes you feel like you are inside a structure almost spiritual in nature. Even the bathroom is spacious and includes a beautifully sanded slab of Iroko for the counter, red travertine vessel sink and red travertine floor.

: Another look to the chimney

: A view of the 4.5 meter floor to ceiling fire place enclosed by natural stone.

: The fire place going all the way to the reciprocal roof.

: The bathroom ceiling.

: Thick Sapeli planks anchored into the stone wall wind their way up to the loft. Below right built in kitchen shelving can be seen.

: Bathroom wall the the nicely varnished African Sapeli floating stairs.

: The loft. Space for a desk on the left, a large bed behind the natural branch privacy wall, and on the right plenty of room for closets, dressing area etc.

We supported the pool lounge roof with 2 inverted 300 year old olive trees so graceful they are like beautiful statues. (Our neighbor was going to cut them into firewood believe it or not.

: A bar on the right, landscaping and decking will complete the picture.

: Underneath of the pool lounge roof.

: Custom cut rafter tips over the pool lounge.

: View from the guest house area.

: Massive and old olive trees saved from being cut into firewood. I turned them upside down, treated them and embedded them into concrete.

: With some work we will turn these into polished natural statues. What better way to support the pool lounge.

Besides the two main structures, an elliptical swimming pool, outdoor fire pit, a Chinese inspired entrance topped off by stunning landscape design all combine to make The Beyler House Project a concept beyond the extraordinary.

As well we’ve installed a 20kw solar electric system to address all our energy needs and we will have the ability to harvest up to 100 tons of rainwater per year.