Villa with wide overhanging roofs and warm timber soffits, lit at dusk

06 · Private residence

Luxury Modern Villa

Location
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Category
Architecture
Sector
Residential

Overview

A house whose character comes almost entirely from its roof. Wide, low eaves lined in warm timber project well beyond the glazing on every elevation, so the building reads as shelter first and enclosure second.

Presentation sheet

The presentation sheet as issued — floor plans, zoning and circulation diagrams, form development, section and material palette.

Presentation sheet for the Luxury Modern Villa — floor plans, diagrams, section and material palette

Design narrative

The roof planes are stacked at two levels and slid past one another, which breaks the mass without breaking the plan underneath it. The gap between them lets light into the centre of the house.

Soffits are lined in timber and carried through the glazing line, so the same surface reads inside and out and the boundary between the two stops being the point of the elevation.

The landscape is designed to the same drawing. Paving runs to the edge of the eave, planting picks up where shade ends, and the terrace is placed where the roof is deepest rather than where the plan left room.

Materials

  • Close view of warm travertine with horizontal veining and open pores

    Travertine stone

  • Split-face natural stone cladding in raking afternoon light

    Dark stone cladding

  • Solid timber edge detail with palm shadow falling across the grain

    Wood cladding

  • Glazing set back behind stone piers on a mid-rise elevation

    Clear glass

  • Dark metal fins shading a glazed recess, warm light behind

    Bronze aluminium

  • Shallow water jets rising from stone paving in a public space

    Water feature

Scope
Architecture, interior design, landscape
Area
780 m² built-up, on a 1,200 m² plot
Status
Concept design
Client
Private client

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