Six years in the making, the result is a 7,965 sq ft, four-bedroom house in cedar wood and glass punctuated by four grooved concrete lily pad-shaped pillar-canopies accommodating hollow tops planted with magnolia trees, which are the centrepiece of the Gothic cathedral-like double-height volumes crafted with experimental processes. 

Of varying elevations, the monumental staggered columns support boxy ultramodern structures and offer intersecting views between rooms. 

Guests entering the residence are initially greeted by the first concrete vaulted space, followed by a lower, more intimate one for the dining area and kitchen, and the third reaching almost nine metres tall that soars dramatically over the living room, while the fourth hovers over the main bathroom. 

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The pillars’ rough finish contrasts with the polished concrete floors, warm timber fixtures and furniture, and a luxuriant Japan-inspired indoor garden.

The concrete walls and trumpet-shaped columnar roof forms of 75.9 have been imagined as found archaeological ruins, and the house is considered a contemporary construction in reference to Arbel’s time spent in Rome in his 20s, where he was moved by the tension he registered between modernist, clean-lined and crisp enclosures and the crumbling archaeological remains they contained. 

He explains, “I aimed for a similar tension here, between a heavy, awkward and complex emotional element on one side and the crisp language of modernism on the other.” 

Over the past 15 years, Arbel has been advocating a materials research approach that he shows off adeptly through his lighting company Bocci—whose pendants illuminate 75.9—where he experiments like a scientist with the reactions of matter forced to undergo chemical, physical or mechanical stresses. 

In his industrial designs, the focus is on inventing process rather than form, investigating the methodology for making, where inspiration is drawn from fabrication techniques and the inherent properties of materials. “I find that a very exciting way to work because it means that you have unpredictable form, and the form relates directly to the material properties, so there’s a certain efficiency and appropriateness, there’s almost a kind of honesty,” he states. 

The challenge with 75.9 was to transpose this philosophy from the scale of an object to that of a building. Instead of controlling or adopting conventional ways of manipulating a material, he grants it the freedom to express itself, so the material ultimately determines the shape. 

A world’s first, Arbel transformed the fabric-formed lily pad column concept he had been developing independently into reality with 75.9. It used a highly innovative, non-traditional technique of slow-pouring concrete over fabric formwork on-site. 

The experimental process took advantage of the material’s intrinsic qualities to produce never-before-seen shapes directly correlated to its fluidity and reduced the amount of concrete necessary, unlike the often wasteful rectilinear forms typically crafted when pouring concrete into wooden formwork. 

Commonly used for infrastructure or landscaping, the inexpensive and strong woven geotextile is stretched across a set of radially-positioned plywood ribs and allows moisture and air to seep through via micro-perforations during curing, which occurs continuously throughout the pour. 

The fabric is thereafter simple to remove and leaves behind a richly textured woven finish. “The lily pad shape emerged naturally from the formwork process and the material’s fluid dynamic properties,” Arbel discloses. “The forms naturally tend towards efficient structural lines, reducing material and labour, but, more importantly, offer a sculptural expression for the fluid nature of concrete.” 

For 75.9, the ground itself served as a building material covering the house, allowing the entire roof to be crossed from the exterior, and the architecture becomes a natural extension of the landscape. “The experimental, process-driven approach was a way to introduce an interesting section to a totally flat agricultural site with a high water table, making excavation impractical,” notes Arbel. 

“We aimed to offer a point of inflection to contrast the relentless horizon in several ways: by treating the agricultural field as a fabric draped over the house; by introducing a choreography of the concrete pillar and roof forms as giant planters with mature trees; by blurring the boundaries of interior and exterior space through detail language,” Arbel adds. 

With light flooding in via skylights above the lily pad columns, natural light has been thoughtfully examined in the design of 75.9 to create a poetic expression throughout the day. According to Arbel, the placement of openings, strategic use of glass and consideration of the pillars all contribute to optimising daylight in a dramatic manner. 

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“The design embraces shadow effects, adding a layer of visual interest and enhancing the spatial experience,” he says. “In the primary living zones of the house, we brought in light from a variety of directions to provide a sense of the sun’s path, moving around you throughout the day and the seasons. The fluted shape of the columns and the wooden screens, as well as their varied textures, accentuate light and shadow.”

After crafting objects that rethink the act of making, Arbel’s infrequent forays into the domestic space are truly sights to behold. He has successfully reinvented an ancient construction material and manufacturing technique thanks to an intuitive working method that deviates from the norm. 

“The process-driven approach is integral to shaping future architectural projects,” Arbel says of his experimental process. “It emphasises collaboration with materials, methods and people, allowing for dynamic, expressive and surprising forms to emerge. This approach encourages a deeper connection to context, sustainability and the process of making.” 

We can’t wait to see what innovative ways of building form and space he comes up with next.

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