Casa T01 | UNICA Architects

Villa T01 is situated in an urban area at the North-East side of the city of Sharjah, the vibrant and so-called cultural capital of UAE.
The project considered the two existing family buildings in the plot as the main reference to place and design the new 4,135 sqm villa. The result is a new configuration of the plot where a new landscape filters through the existing constructions and creates a new shared courtyard garden between the three buildings, ensuring the highest integration of the new villa in the area.

The design approach was inspired by the deep Arabic history of living, our aim was to build an intro-verted and sensorial experience interpreted in a contemporary way, traveling through the ethos and ethikos of this intellectual and social way of living.
Through the subtractions from the main mass the volumes create multiple courtyards that bring the outdoor spaces indoor. Each space is characterized by its own identity and recognizability, every room has a view toward the garden and is experienced in a unique way.

Nature becomes the protagonist by visually entering in all the interior spaces, the garden design blends the experience of the traditional sahn and iwan, with the beauty and sophisticated perception of a Japanese courtyard garden. The inspiration of the elegance and simplicity of a traditional Tuscan house merges with the taste of the raw, vital, earthy quality atmosphere.

The central courtyard is the physical and sentimental heart of the house, where interior and exterior merge completely generating a space with multiple perspectives and points of view.

The building develops on two floors; the ground floor hosts the common areas with the outdoor pool, the gym, the Spa and the formal dining areas connected through a buffer separation to the private family areas where the bedrooms and private living rooms are placed. In the center of this ideal division, the library area is located in a dedicated volume surrounded by a pool of water that is also visible from the inside, a unique space dedicated to reading and contemplation. On the upper level two en-suite master bedrooms and a family majlis overlooking the garden are placed.

The whole design was conceived considering the outdoor spaces as a secondary expansion of the house. The tropical vegetation of the garden is the unchanging backdrop that recurs in every room. Materials are chosen as to reproduce the raw materiality of earth and its gradations, such as cocciopesto for the interior fin finishes and bright wood for the flooring.

Water surrounds the house expanding views and generating shelters of privacy and relax.

The project for Villa T01 shapes through architecture the idea that our body is the center of all the physical and emotional perceptions, a simple and sophisticated space where the family finds its perfect dimension.