A Home That Honors the Past While Moving Confidently Into the Future
Halel architecture and interior design:
Interior designer Hadas Rot
Architect Adi Shani
For years, a young family lived in an aging split-level house on a quiet street in central Israel—a dark, compartmentalized structure whose original potential had been obscured by outdated planning and heavy staircases. When they approached Halel Architecture, led by interior designer Hadas Rot and architect Adi Shani, it quickly became clear that the project would require far more than a cosmetic renovation. The redesign began with a fundamental shift: relocating the main entrance and reorganizing the home’s circulation to open the interior directly toward the surrounding mountain views. As a result, the kitchen, dining area, and living room now form a single, light-filled space that serves as the heart of the home.
Rather than eliminating the home’s original split-level structure, the design embraces it as a defining architectural asset. Bulky staircases were removed and replaced with a single, airy stair composed of slender steel elements and tension cables, creating visual continuity and dialogue between levels. Each family member was given a clearly defined private zone: the two daughters enjoy soft, pastel-toned bedroom suites with en-suite bathrooms, while the parents’ quarters were conceived as a boutique-hotel-inspired suite with a walk-in closet and a serene bathroom featuring both a freestanding bathtub and a walk-in shower. A glass-enclosed home office, positioned between the children’s rooms and visible from the entrance, introduces transparency and depth to the layout.
Beyond the architectural reconfiguration, the renovation focused on atmosphere as much as function. The living room was designed around a fireplace rather than a television, encouraging conversation and shared family moments. Brick-clad walls add texture and warmth, while natural wood flooring runs throughout the house, visually unifying the spaces and softening the contemporary lines. Multiple exits to surrounding gardens allow light and air to move freely through the home, creating a dynamic relationship between interior and exterior. Although the house was stripped back to its structural core and rebuilt with new roofs and openings, its original DNA remains intact—transformed into a refined, light-filled home that balances memory with modernity, and architecture with everyday life.
photographer - Harel Moyal