Main Architecture and Design Villa Kali: Embracing the Sea

Villa Kali: Embracing the Sea

Villa Kali in Lebanon, designed by BLANKPAGE ARCHITECTS and KARIM NADER STUDIO, makes the most of its stunning beachfront location by maximizing sightlines to the sea. Villa Kali is situated in front of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Lebanon in the town of Mounsef, north of Beirut. The site is close to the ancient seaport city of Byblos, one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world and one of the most ancient Phoenician cities.

Architects Patrick Mezher and Walid Ghantous (BLANKPAGE Architects) and Karim Nader (Karim Nader Studio) have been working on the project for this luxury beach-front mansion for almost four years, designing every single detail of a house that reinterprets a series of environmental aspects of the site: the sunshine, the air, the rock formation of the coastline on which it sits to embrace the seashore without any unnecessary mediation other than the perpetual sound of waves crashing onto the shore.

The house, inspired by the nearby rock formations in its composition of overlapping levels, refers to the layout of traditional homes where rooms are grouped around a courtyard. The courtyard here opens up completely towards the sea, the two side volumes set at an angle that allows them to embrace as wide a horizon as possible, nature flowing through them. In this sense, the topography and the rock formations of the coastline continue ideally within the house; the sea itself is very much part of this residence as water and the salty breeze dialogue with the stratification of its architectural elements.

Full content of this issue you can read here

The full version of the article can be read in our printed issue, also you can subscribe to the web-version of the magazine