CLIENT /

 

LOT AREA /

BUILT-UP AREA /

 

AWARDS /

WORLD BEST ARCHITECTURE (Single Unit) 2010

International Residential Property Awards - London, UK

 

5 STARS BEST ARCHITECTURE (Single Unit) 2010

Arabian Residential Property Awards - Dubai, UAE

 

WORLD BEST INTERIOR DESIGN 2009

International Residential Property Awards - San Diego, California USA

 

5 STARS BEST INTERIOR DESIGN 2009

Arabian Residential Property Awards - Dubai, UAE

 

CHALLENGE /

The project was delivered in a dramatically short period of time - from May 2002 to October 2003 - considering it being a full design and build turnkey job and considering its standards and details in execution and furniture selection, all with the valued support and collaboration of the client representative and supervisor engineer Abdulaziz Al-Shehri.​

 

CONCEPT /

Located on one of Lebanon’s most beautiful hills, the villa has a full 360 degrees view towards Beirut, the bay of Jounieh, and Mount Lebanon, and is designed to meet royal standards. The sight of the coastal strip extending from the area of Jounieh to Beirut inspired the planning of both the general site layout and the building itself. The overflow swimming pool meets the sea at the horizon and the villa’s side elevations are tilted so that their openings face the bay view.

The design approach focuses on the client’s refined classical taste, and modern thinking in layout planning and furniture distribution, stressing on the dichotomy between public and private use of the house. 

The majestic main entrance hall was thoroughly designed to immediately give the user a first impression of royal proportions, thus triggering his imagination on the spaces to come. The elevator and the staircases are treated as sculptural elements in this double volume space. The panoramic lift’s façade is made of glass and gold plated carved wood which design was intricately thought of and executed. The ironmongery works for the stairs handrails are homogenous with all the external ironmongery details as the complex’s main gate. The bright marble floor reflects the light of the chandeliers highlighting all the details on the curves and corners of the hall. A slight touch of blue lighting inside the lift adds contrast to the space overwhelmed by beige yellowish colors that extend into the formal reception hall invoking warmth and coziness. The structural design of the stairs in the main entrance hall is ingenious, concentrating the majority of the steel in the middle thus creating very thin sides in a curving manner towards the center. This approach generated staircases of very light nature, calmly sitting at each side of the panoramic lift and eventually extremely appealing to the senses.

A family living room occupies the central zone on the first floor level. The fabrics and accessories are simpler and conform the best to the owners’ taste. The floor is covered with cut-to-size carpet and the furniture is carefully laid out to display separate corners for lunches and dinners.

The formal reception hall on the ground floor revolves around a central table, specifically designed to match the detail on the vase sitting on it. The detail then extends down to the floor in the cut-to-size water jet marble design, and reflects upwards in the gypsum ceiling forming a beautiful constellation of fiber optic stars. The seating areas occupy the corners and peripheries of the space leaving a vast central zone for gatherings and interaction.

 

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