Oman Beach Villa | Marwan Al-sayed

A UNIQUE LANDSCAPE OF TOWERING CLIFFS PLUNGING INTO ENDLESS VISTAS OF EMERALD GREEN WATERS, NUMEROUS CAVES BOTH OF THE MOUNTAIN AND UNDER THE SEA, WOODEN DHOWS, PORTUGUESE FORTS AND STONE HOUSES INSPIRES THE CREATION OF AN ARCHITECTURE OF THICK MASS, PUNCTURED BY SPACE AND VOLUMES OF NATURAL LIGHT. A SIMPLE, LOW MAINTENANCE HOME IS ENVISIONED OF STONE AND PLASTER, LUXURIOUS IN ITS PROPORTIONS, VISTAS AND THE EXPERIENCE AS IT CONNECTS WITH THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE, YET SIMPLE IN ITS MATERIALITY AND FORM. AS IF TWO ROCKS EMERGE, CRACKED OPEN AND SPLIT TO ALLOW HABITATION, ONE FACING THE PURE VAST HORIZON WHERE THE SEA MEETS THE SKY, THE OTHER FACING THE INTERSECTION OF ROCKS PLUNGING INTO THE SEA. MOUNTAINS DESCEND TO A TOWN AT THE EDGE OF THE GULF, A FISHING PORT, A BEACH AND AN OASIS OF GREEN RUNNING PARALLEL TO THE SEA. THE SITE IS PERCHED BETWEEN DISPARATE CONDITIONS: MOUNTAIN RANGE, WASH, ROAD, SEA, PORT AND TOWN. THE CHALLENGE IS HOW TO PROVIDE BOTH DESIRED VIEWS AND PRIVACY WHERE MOST NEEDED. A STRATEGY OF DEEP SHADOWS AND SPECIFIC VIEWS IS INTRODUCED. “…..Don’t insist on going where you think you want to go. Ask the way to the spring Your Living pieces will form a harmony. There is a moving palace that floats in the air with balconies and clear water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent.” From “Moving Water” by Rumi The Musandam Peninsula, known as the “Norway of the Middle East” for its towering granite cliffs creating fjord like ravines, is a harsh and rocky area spilling to the sea. This fundamental contrast between solid and liquid, rough and smooth, rock and water or rock and sky serves as the basis for the development of how we envision the materiality of the house. Being a weekend beach house, we see it as deriving a simple, almost archaic, feel….very relaxed and very calm….in contrast to the luxurious materials of a city house, we imagine building with a rough local stone, rising out of the sand and with the color of the sand and as the walls rise they become plastered smoother and smoother as they approach the ceiling, thereby rendering them reflective of the outside elements of sky, water, trees. Thus the house will feel as it emerges from the solid earth lighter and more ethereal as it merges with the sky and clouds. This material palette we feel will give the house a very relaxed feel, with few details, but luxurious in its sense of scale and proportions. Vaulted plaster ceilings alluding to sky, clouds and billowing tents, the walls remain solid and of the earth and the local building culture of the area, now rendered in a more modern way