Residential · Runda, Nairobi · 2026

Double XL

Overview

Double XL is a residence conceived for two families choosing to build one life together under a single roof. Two independent master wings, each opening onto its own private terrace, anchor either end of the plan, while a generous shared core of living, dining and kitchen space ties the household together at its centre. The result is a home that reads as one confident, unified building from the outside, while quietly giving each family the full autonomy of their own suite within it.

The Story

The clients came with a brief that most architects rarely get: two families, related by more than blood, wanting to build a life together rather than two separate houses on two separate plots. The challenge wasn't fitting more rooms into a large home — it was designing a plan honest enough to hold two households as equals, with neither wing reading as the "main" house and the other as an annex. The twin-wing terrace layout became the answer. Each master suite was given its own outdoor terrace, its own sense of arrival, and enough distance from the other to preserve daily privacy — while the shared living, dining and kitchen spaces at the centre of the plan became the place where both families choose to come together. Double XL isn't a compromise between two households; it's proof that architecture can be the thing that makes shared living work.