S-House is located in Abdoun, an affluent residential district in west Amman. The predominant house-type characterising the district is the over-scaled detached “villa”. The site is a flat plot of land surrounded by residential structures on three sides, and a primary access road. The site does not offer any views with which the house may establish a rapport. To compensate for this absence, the house was designed as an introverted entity that is organised around an internal landscape. The silent schematic quality of the exterior is in strong contrast to the richness of the interior. This project attempts to reinsert qualities of privacy, characteristic of the traditional “Arab” house, within a context dominated by extroverted exhibitionism. The open plan is anchored by a large internal reflecting pool and a double-height space that allows filtered light to penetrate the interior. The double-height space offers sectional variation within an otherwise horizontally expansive field.