The cantilevered roof and opening walls create an open, peaceful, shaded living area enabling the owners to experience the tranquil ebb and flow from the Majlis out to a landscape garden.
The design intent was to create a place of hospitality, entertainment, relaxation, and reflection; an informal, modern annex that complements the “formal” Majlis located inside the more traditional family villa.
The existing villa supports the Garden Majlis architecture, with the external stone-faced elevation providing a visual backdrop and spatial element to the “outdoor room” sitting area.
The physical context of the site is intimate. Only millimeters from the family villa, and meters from adjacent property, the Majlis nevertheless retains a feeling of openness and relaxation achieved by daylight and landscape permeating the envelope of the building. It is a place of hospitality inviting a domestic landscape into its interior. It is a place to sit.
The Majlis is located at the crossed axis formed by the Garden lawn and Hadeerah fire pit. The Majlis space feels, and is, neither inside nor outside. It inhabits the ‘inside-outside” threshold like a rocking chair on a veranda. The resultant architectural dialog is intimate and informal; like casual conversations with friends around a campfire.