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Haitham Abdelrehim

Architecture—20 / 24

Golf Place 225

Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai, UAE/Private villa/2023 — 2024/Eleven Plus Decoration Design

A restrained street elevation in pale stone and dark glazing, with the generosity kept for a garden planned as a set of outdoor rooms.

01The pool reaches close to the house, making water part of the outlook from the ground floor.
Location
Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai, UAE
Year
2023 — 2024
Sector
Residential
Scope
Concept to IFC
Status
Completed

My contribution

My role
Senior Designer — design lead
Responsibility
Concept to IFC

Key contributions

  • Led the design from concept through IFC
  • Developed the landscape and outdoor-room strategy with the architecture
  • Directed the material palette and the screen detail
  • Coordinated the technical package

The project

From the street the house is deliberately reticent — pale stone, a flat roof line, dark recessed glazing, and the car court held behind planting. The generosity is kept for the garden side, where the ground is broken into a series of outdoor rooms: a stepped path through planting, a shaded seating court under a slatted pergola, a dining terrace, and the pool sitting between them.

Detail is where the project earns its quality. Paving is laid as floating slabs with planting between them, the pergola's timber slats are set to throw a graded shadow across the terrace through the day, and a perforated metal screen doubles as a water wall, adding sound and movement to the most sheltered corner of the garden. Deep green and burnt orange furniture is the only colour allowed against the neutral shell.

02A shallow pool shelf brings lounging directly to the edge of the living terrace.
03The street frontage holds to a few strong planes, with the entrance recessed between them.
04Planting softens the base of the house while the upper frames remain sharply defined.
05The car court is absorbed into the building's geometry beneath a projecting upper volume.
06Separate paved tracks reduce the visual weight of the driveway at the entrance.
07Gaps of planting turn the arrival paving into part of the garden.
08The approach narrows through planting before opening at the front door.
09A planted seam between paving slabs continues the garden along the glazed rooms.
10The perimeter path doubles as a quiet place to pause beneath the trees.
11A straight route holds the landscape together as planting varies on either side.
12Colour is concentrated in the loose furniture, leaving the architectural palette restrained.
13A small seating group gives the planted corner a use of its own.
14Several seating arrangements allow the terrace to accommodate different sizes of gathering.

“Reticent from the street; generous to the garden.”

15The lounge platform sits between planting and water, sheltered within the garden.
16A continuous terrace connects the glazed rooms with the dining pergola.
17The pergola anchors the far end of the pool, extending the garden's usable length.
18The dining table and outdoor kitchen share a roof while remaining open to the landscape.
19Closely spaced slats bring a changing pattern of shade across the dining area.
20A water wall gives the narrow side garden a destination and a source of sound.
21A sequence of paving, planting and shade makes the side passage part of the outdoor plan.

Colophon

Location
Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai, UAE
Year
2023 — 2024
Sector
Residential
Typology
Private villa
Scope
Concept to IFC
Status
Completed
Role
Senior Designer — design lead