Selman and Suha Bilal's 'B2 House' Wins The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2004

Selman and Suha Bilals B2 House Wins The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2004
Two Turkish brothers, Selman and Suha Bilal, wanted to build a house on Turkey's north Aegean coast as a place to spend weekends in a spot where they could find beauty, tranquillity and seclusion without travelling long distances from their homes in Istanbul.

B2 House is located on the edges B�ykh�sun, a small village near Ayvacik housing a tightly knit community of around 450 people who work mainly in agriculture.

Located just outside the south-east boundary of the village, the pure rectangular mass of B2 House sits on an open terraced site, unmistakably modern and separate from the traditional houses of the surrounding village, but respecting and allying itself with those houses through its use of traditional local materials and techniques.

This house has been chosen to receive an Award because it embodies a sense of perfection and well-being. It represents a progressive approach in acknowledging the history of its place, the surrounding houses and landscape, to form a new and unique creation that is, at the same time, an integral part of its community.

The house stands apart - beautifully shaped and elegantly dressed - but in the future additional houses may embrace and adopt it, fully integrating it into a wider landscape.