Dubai, UAE
The design for Villa Suburbana of BG vertically-shifts its rectilinear volumes to create an alternating solid-void pattern across the entirety of the villa. Within this solid-void framework, the design explores how the exterior void spaces can act in dynamic interplay with the interiors. Given ibda design’s fundamental consideration of the relationship between architecture and landscape, the villa’s design strategically dissolves the boundaries between interior and exterior. Thus, the terrace gardens in each of the exterior void spaces work in tandem with their adjacent volumes, complementing the interiors with outdoor spaces of plants and trees. Glass transparencies are used on the sliding doors of each volume, causing the spaces to extend outwards into the landscape, and disintegrate boundaries between inside and outside.
On both the ground floor and first floor, the volumes are connected with a continuous corridor that aligns to the architecture’s horizontal axis and creates fluid circulation. This ease of circulation is complemented by a semi-outdoor colonnade frame that travels along the length of the facade. The colonnade features a wooden louvre system that mediates the reception of natural light, provides shading, and reduces the visual weight of the architecture as a whole.
