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Haitham Abdelrehim

Al Ain, UAE · Villa Interiors · 2022 — Current · Alchemy Design Studio — MFA

AK Residence

A sculptural stair, a gallery running around the void, arched openings and a warm stone-and-timber palette — the interior counterpart to the courtyard house.

Render — the curved stair sweeping through the double-height living hall
Location
Al Ain, UAE
Year
2022 — Current
Sector
Residential
Scope
Concept to IFC, including FF&E
Status
On site
Role
Senior Design Architect — design lead

The project

The house is organised around one room: a double-height living hall crossed by a curved stair, with a gallery running around the void above and the library wall rising the full height beside it. Everything else — entrance hall, formal living, dining, the sunken family lounge — opens off it through arched openings, so the plan reads as a sequence of rooms around a single volume of light.

The palette is held to warm stone, dark timber joinery, bronze and sheer drapery, with dense joinery walls giving each room its rhythm. The stair geometry, the acoustics of the double-height volume and the joinery packages were resolved through the technical stage so the drawn intent survived into construction.

Render — the living hall — stair, library wall and the gallery above
Render — under the stair, looking to the garden
Render — the double-height hall from the family lounge
Render — the stair from the upper gallery
Render — entrance hall — arched openings, chandelier and the view through
Render — entrance hall towards the living hall
Render — the entrance portal from inside
Render — formal living under the arched windows
Render — formal living — arches and sheer drapery
Render — the sunken family lounge from above
Render — family lounge beneath the gallery

“One room of light, and every other room opening onto it.”

Render — dining room within the stepped garden hall
Render — dining under the pendant cluster
Render — arched niches in the gallery
Render — the garden stair with its planted terraces
Render — living room with the library wall
Render — the garage as a showroom for the owner's collection

What I did

  • Led the interiors from concept through IFC as design lead
  • Carried the timber and stone language from the architecture into the interior
  • Directed FF&E
  • Set the lighting direction
  • Coordinated the technical package

Colophon

Location
Al Ain, UAE
Year
2022 — Current
Sector
Residential
Typology
Villa Interiors
Scope
Concept to IFC, including FF&E
Status
On site
Role
Senior Design Architect — design lead