The home uses a limited material palette to balance the interior experience, resulting in a volume whose exterior, composed of windows, doors and Corten steel slats, is inspired by desert mud, while the interiors remain subtle throughout a unique white marble floor in a natural finish and chiselled natural sandstone stone, in the case of the patios.
Project description by Studio VDGA
Set in the city of gold, Dubai; this villa was one of the most challenging projects considering the diverse architectural languages that the city follows. Be it the towering skyscrapers, extremely modern boxed structures or ornate villas, the city sees a lot in terms of spatial expression. Various themes were scrapped, and many ideas were renegotiated, till we found a form that very closely mirrors desert architecture.
Being our maiden project in UAE, it was our effort to be very close to vernacular architecture and give full justice to the context. This design was a combination of the principles of Vastu (Indian architectural guidelines) and the contextual relevance of the project. Set on a footprint of 2,834 sqm, the villa had elaborate user requirements. And balance the space planning, while creating hiatuses of visually pleasing architectural elements, was always kept in mind while designing.
The house plan is dotted with a series of courtyards which breathe life into the spaces. Massing in the elevations enables the self-shading of the structures while forming overwhelming sciography patterns. Sun path, summer and winter solstice were elaborately studied to create climatically conducive environments.
The House of Courtyards by Studio VDGA. Photograph by Ema Peter.
The courtyards remain shaded when the sun is the harshest, allowing one to freely use them across all seasons. Fenestrations also follow the principles of climatology with the south façade devoid of any large openings and the North, East and West being fairly open. High turrets introduced intermittently in the design, allow natural light into the interior spaces while cutting off the glare and harshness of the sun. The material palette was restricted to minimal so that we could balance the interior experience as well. The external textures were inspired by the desert mud-plastered look. Perforated Corten steel screens have been used in abundant in both the interior spaces and the exterior façade. These screens cut off the direct heat radiation yet facilitate the flow of breeze.
Landscape is kept local with emphasis on succulents, Palms and the auspicious Olives. Olive trees adorn all our courtyards and they figuratively bind the entire house. This house is all about the overpowering colour and texture of adobe and its combination with the hues of Olives. All the courtyards, landscape pathways, walkways, drive-ways & water bodies are in a single type of hand-chiselled natural sand stone from the deserts of Rajasthan in India. Water features are kept natural. Ground cover in off-white crushed stones adds to our landscape palette. Natural rocks are used abundantly in the landscaped areas.
We endeavoured to create truly enriching spaces while sticking to the context. The architecture is derived from the vernacular desert houses while the interiors are kept sumptuously subtle. The material palette was restricted to a minimal number so that we could balance the interior experience as well. The external textures were inspired by the desert mud-plastered look.
The House of Courtyards by Studio VDGA. Photograph by Ema Peter.
Perforated Corten steel screens have been used in abundant in both our interior spaces as well as exterior façade. The façade doors, windows and slats are in Corten steel which complements the exterior texture beautifully. Corten steel being corrosion resistance can withstand the extreme climate difference and remain beautiful while ageing. All the interior areas have single white marble floors in a natural finish, while we broke away with this theme only in individual toilets and powder areas. All the courtyards, landscape pathways, walkways, drive-ways, terraces and balconies are in a single type of hand-chiseled natural sand stone from the deserts of Rajasthan in India.
