Arabian Ranches Villa

A family villa in Arabian Ranches finished in marble, gold and warm timber, at a scale — four hundred square metres — where opulence has to be placed with care or it crowds the rooms.

The answer was to put it at the thresholds. The openings between rooms are lined in polished brass, so each one frames the next like a picture and the plan reads larger than it is. Above the dining table a cascade of blue and clear glass carries the colour of the pool just outside, and the study is built in walnut ruled with fine brass lines.