铁门之屋丨Georgian studio TIMM Architecture

Georgian studio TIMM Architecture has completed House of Iron Doors, a home on the outskirts of Tbilisi that features an openable facade of perforated weathered steel shutters.

TIMM Architecture aimed to transform the aesthetic of high fences and walls of man homes in the neighbourhood into "an architectural experience rather than a defensive barrier" for this house in the village of Okrokana.

TIMM Architecture has created a house in Georgia

"The project began with a simple observation: in many suburban contexts the wall becomes the most dominant architectural element, while the house itself disappears behind it," the studio told Dezeen.

"Exploring the relationship between wall, facade and garden led to a key question: what if the perimeter wall itself became architecture?"

It is fronted by weathered steel shutters

House of Iron Doors sits slightly raised above ground level, with an L-shaped plan that hugs a rear garden and is buffered from the street behind a strip of planting.

The street-facing section of this volume has been almost entirely given over to a large, glazed living area, which the facade's shutters allow to be either completely open or closed, with light filtering in through small circular perforations.

There is a large glazed living area

Opposite, sliding glass doors open the living area and the adjacent dining room onto the central courtyard, facing a wall of weathered steel covered in metal mesh to support climbing plants.

"When the doors are fully opened, the house behaves almost like a pavilion where interior and exterior merge into a continuous living environment," said the studio.

"The spatial atmosphere changes depending on the position of the facade panels: when closed, the house feels protective and introspective; when opened, it becomes transparent and outward-looking."

The shutters filter light into the living room

TIMM Architecture chose weathering steel to create what it called an "infrastructural presence" on the street, with a monolithic appearance when the shutters are closed that is contrasted by the home's minimal, largely monochromatic interiors.

The perpendicular wing of the home contains two storeys of bedrooms, while above the living area a swimming pool opens out onto a rooftop terrace via sliding glass doors.

"Material selection was guided by the conceptual idea of the façade as both boundary and mechanism," explained the studio. "Weathered steel was chosen for the operable doors because it expresses solidity, durability and transformation."

"Other materials are intentionally restrained and minimal, allowing the movement of the facade and the spatial relationships of the house to remain the primary architectural expression," it continued.

The home features a courtyard

Beneath the home, a basement floor contains a garage accessed via a ramp at the front of the home, as well as a games room, utility and storage spaces.

Other projects that have recently incorporated large shutters include an office in Fujisawa City by Schemata Architects, which features a facade of operable corrugated metal shutters.

The photography is by Grigory Sokolinsky.