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Architecture

270 | The Frame — Architecture

Location
Sharjah, UAE
Type
Private Residence
Scope
Architecture & Interior Design
The idea

A stone house under floating roofs.

The house is set out as two-storey wings around a central courtyard and pool. Its front is a long, low wall of pale stone laid in horizontal courses, broken at the centre by a tall portal in dark metal. A stone path leads straight to the door between planted beds.

Deep roofs with timber soffits float above the walls, and full-height glazing, hung with sheer curtains, opens both floors to the garden. At the back, a timber deck runs along the pool, and the central hall with its open stair is glazed on both sides, so the courtyard and the lawn can be seen through the house.

Material palette
The Frame material palette — Pale stone cladding
Pale stone cladding

Front walls

The Frame material palette — Dark metal
Dark metal

Entrance portal

The Frame material palette — Timber soffit
Timber soffit

Roof overhangs

The Frame material palette — Glass & sheer
Glass & sheer

Full-height glazing

01

Entrance

A tall dark portal set into a front of pale stone.

02

Pool Courtyard

Two wings, a glazed central hall and a deck along the water.

03

Garden

Deep timber-lined roofs over full-height glass.

04

At Night

The house lit from within, open to the garden.

About the project

Through the portal to the garden side

The approach is direct: a visitor walks up the path to the portal and steps into the central hall. From there the house opens in two directions, onto the courtyard and pool held between the wings, and onward to the garden. Along the garden side, the roofs project well beyond the glazing, shading the rooms beneath. At night the order reverses, and the lit interior is what you see from outside.

Pale stone cladding forms the front walls, a calm surface with a fine horizontal grain. Dark metal frames the entrance portal, the one strong contrast on the street face. Under the roof overhangs, timber soffits add warmth overhead, visible from the deck and the lawn. Sheer curtains soften the glazing, filtering daylight and giving the rooms privacy. In this house in Sharjah, a few materials carry both the exterior and the rooms within.

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