Residential Architecture
TAJIRI
Overview
A residential project bringing together a family home and apartments through a shared language of light, proportion and landscape.
Tajiri is a residential development in Kiambu County comprising a private bungalow and a multi-unit apartment building. The project explores how two different residential scales can belong to the same site while maintaining their own character. The design responds to the existing landscape, movement through the site, daylight and the relationship between private and shared spaces. Across both buildings, a restrained material palette, deep openings and carefully framed views establish a common architectural language.
Context
The project sits within a mature residential setting in Kiambu County, where existing vegetation, neighbouring buildings and established movement routes formed important starting points for the design. Rather than treating the bungalow and apartment building as isolated objects, the site was considered as a whole. Access, parking, privacy, views and existing trees informed the placement of the buildings and the spaces created between them.
Design Approach
Tajiri is developed through a simple architectural language of clear volumes, deep openings and restrained materials. The bungalow remains deliberately low and horizontal, with pitched roofs and sheltered thresholds reinforcing its domestic scale. The apartment building translates the same principles vertically, using recessed balconies, changes in material and shifts in the façade to break down its larger mass. Across both buildings, dark-framed openings create a consistent rhythm while allowing daylight and views of the surrounding landscape to become part of the interior experience.
Spatial Experience
Inside, the architecture becomes quieter. Natural light, warm timber, pale surfaces and dark-framed windows form the main material palette. Large openings frame views towards the landscape and allow daylight to move through the rooms throughout the day. The interiors are intentionally restrained, with proportion, light and material doing most of the work rather than excessive decoration.