Designing a private residence with just a basic preliminary program is a daunting task. Our only given was to design a house that is both lasting but fancy, small but impressive, innovative but simple, outstanding but straightforward.

Add to this challenging situation our minimal knowledge with the members of this family, which makes the task even more stimulating.

It is with this mood that we were invited to propose a concept for your villa, and as such invite you to keep an open mind while we take you on a tour through our proposal. Also, do note that this is a concept, an initial idea, around which the project could be developed to cater for all possible program revisions.

The main idea, which guided the design process, was to design the house in relation to the outdoor spaces and nature. You will see that at different levels we have created clear specific type of links between in and out. For instance the top floor has a generous and wide opening window to the sea, very bold as a gesture, while the ground floor is completely shielded with a green belt from the direct street level nuisances. This same belt allows the house to be extended to the maximum limits of the site, onto a pleasant landscape made of a reflective pool, a flowers and fruits garden to the south, & a lush green lawn to surround it.

The concept of the project is based on shifting the traditional reading of a multileveled villa upside down, whereby the main reception is placed on the highest level to allow for maximum view towards the sea. This is specifically useful since the neighbors across the road cannot block the view, as they cannot go higher than 5.5 m from the street level.

The house is set in the site in a way to face the direct neighbor (Kassar bldg) with an almost blank wall. It is shifted to the north to create maximum space at the southern edge of the site. A perimeter wall is built to give southern edge privacy for the garden and for the terraces; it also blocks the direct service access, which takes place form the back.

The same idea is applied to the east side of the site, where the Service/Staff block is locate to shield the main house as well as the main entrance and drop off area. This block houses the staff quarters as well as waiting areas for the drivers. The staircases down to the basements are also located within it and as such create an invisible underground link between the quarters and the main house.

The main private access happens from the blank northern side through a wooden plane joining the parking entrance door and the pedestrian door. A covered drop off in front of the main entrance allows for a protected entry. The high staff volume allows additional privacy from direct neighbors.

A water mirror acts as a simple indication for the round about, set on the protective southern wall.

The house seems to exclamate grandeur from without but is very livable from within. It is very well linked to its direct external spaces on the ground floor level, where the house achieves complete transparency with the garden and the reflective pool, with a high privacy achieved with the high trees surrounding the site. This environment is duplicated at the top floors in the main reception space but with extreme openness. The whole space is open unto one “window”, which becomes more than an opening it is a frame of the view. Which opens up onto an unblocked view towards the open sea.

The functions are distributed on three duplex 6m high levels:

Ground floor duplex with a family entertainment space serviced from the basement. A double level suite for the elder son occupies the northern wing at the GF, and both wings on the GF mezzanine. As such, the elder son benefits from an independent “villa” within the main villa. He has his own privacy.

The first floor duplex has the Master Quarters, with a generous master bedroom and independent bathrooms and dressings. The bedroom space has a clear height of 5.75m. A distinguished suite occupies the northern wing with its own large dressing and bathroom.

The Mezzanine level of this duplex receives the changing rooms serving the second floor outdoor swimming pool. It is accessible from the pool terrace level via a staircase and is serviced via the service core. It is possible to increase the capacity of this first floor duplex by adding one room over the suite, or by designing the northern wing into two duplexes, if the client wishes to add sleeping functions.

The Second floor duplex benefits from the full 5.75m clearance. It houses the main reception/dining space of around 200m2, which is open to 250m2 of outdoor usable space (pool, terraces, gardens…) A sun deck is attached to the side of the volume as a private sunbathing area, completely open to the south. It acts as a link to the lower changing rooms.

A large kitchen/pantry serves the main space, in addition to individual guest bathrooms.

The villa makes full use of the maximum allowed height for this project at (17+1) 18m. This height is divided, as we have discussed onto three main duplexes (~3x6m). In addition, the two basements occupy the complete allowed area. This yields around 2800m2 of usable space on two basements levels.

All the technical facilities are located there, as well as all the main cooking and storage facilities. The service block is linked independently via two staircases to these basements. The first basement mainly functions for a private parking for the main villa, in addition to the technical areas (transformer room, UPS room,

Electrical room, Generator Plant room, and main storages. It is assumed that some lounges will be located there as well as some washing and toilets facilities for the staff. The second basement functions mainly as the main kitchen and cooking area. It is served by a large shaft which links up the highest level of the

building to discharge the smell and smoke. Very generous space is available for storage (both deep freeze, freezer, refrigerator, dry storage,..). Also, the main laundry and ironing functions are located there. A truck unloading is designed for any large vehicle dropping off. More refined planning will be done during more

advanced design stages, in addition to the presence of a kitchen designer.