Nairobi-based architecture firm Urko Sanchez Architects wrapped the exterior of an apartment building with white patterned shell in the city of Mombasa, Kenya, resembling a lacework within the historic city fabric. 

The new apartment building, named Tudor Apartments, is situated in Tudor Creek of Mombasa, where their patterned envelope makes the building more distinctive and exquisite. 

The building, covering a total of 4,000-square-metre area, includes 14 apartments overlooking an amazing view in Tudor Creek. Thanks to its outer shell, taking cues from Mashrabiyas' traditional latticed wood screens, the apartments provide privacy and optimize natural ventilation and lighting.

"We took the challenge of translating our contemporary Swahili style to a groundbreaking high-rise structure where the apartments benefit from the experience of outdoor living, contact with nature and the integration of the surroundings into each private home," said Urko Sanchez Architects.

"We worked closely with the client to create a building with minimal environmental impact, by adapting to the land’s natural slope, and by using locally available materials and know-how," added the architects.

The requirements from the client offered that the apartments should have maximizes the scenery from within and outside the apartments, notably via terraces and balconies.

The building should have been environmentally friendly, including naturally aerated spaces: passive cooling, well-lit spaces, daylight, rainwater collection, driven by water scarcity, solar-heated water for energy saving and local, long lasting materials.

In addition to these, the architects needed to "ensure privacy" regarding the distance of the road, and that of the neighbours in the adjacent plots: a building of flats on one side, a private house on the other with a risk of major residential development. Starting from this, they created a filtering shell that allows privacy.

The project, described as an "innovative design", harmonies Mombasa's past, present and future in the same context. 

In the interiors, a palette of soft colors are applied to floors, ceilings and walls. The chosen materials in the interior are: wood, stone flooring and white painting on the walls. 

Project facts

Year: 2012-2017
Client: Swahili Gem Ltd. Kenya
Area: 4000 m2
Status: Completed
Team: Estrella de Andrés, Marcos Velasco, Ahmed Shamuty

All images © Javier Callejas

> via Urko Sanchez Architects