At the Borderline

Our initial reaction to the site was somewhat mixed – the site is awkwardly long and narrow sandwiched at the border in between beautiful vernacular buildings and high end contemporary villas. Our clients were looking for something stunning and contemporary and presented quite a hefty brief – a challenge we were very glad to take on. Combining all of the above remained the driving force informing all design decisions.

The borderline around the site and the star of the project is a beautiful rubble wall which one walks through in order to enter the property. This rubble wall ensures an ever-present tie to the vernacular surroundings.

Once inside, the villa’s design continues to play with the idea of being at the borderline in between contrasting elements. The materials inside and out remain a consistent palette of travertine and off shutter concretes contrasted by dark black accents.

The property’s front façade is mostly solid whilst the back is predominantly open. This met the client’s dual requirements of providing as much openness and natural light as possible and ensuring that the indoor living space and outdoor pool area feel as united as possible.

This relationship between inside and out was a challenge to define because of the narrowness of the site. The 6m curtilage as specified by zoning laws in this area would have resulted in an unusable sliver of a building. A lengthy process of give and take resulted in an average clear curtilage of 4m, giving the building the internal areas required without creating an imposing structure on the narrow site.