Rai House

The project was the redesign of a 30 year old row house, unused for many years. The structure is built on reclaimed land and at a distance of 500 meters from the sea. The long, narrow dimensions of the existing home - 41'x 17' , which made the interior spaces dark and dingy with minimal light and ventilation,needed to be re-worked on and balanced. The interior spaces were opened up by removing unnecessary walls, introducing a double height central open-to-sky court and using large openings that visually connected all the interior spaces. The openness was enhanced by using light seating and design elements that connected the spaces horizontally as well as vertically. Large walk -out openings were created to connect the interior and exterior spaces. The linear ground floor space consisting of the living, dining and kitchen has a cozy, horizontal character created by the use of warm elements such as wooden cladding and flooring, earthy colors and light, wooden furniture and complimentary accessories. The ground floor linear space is connected to the top floor by the compact, double height central court. This floor has 2 cozy bedrooms connected through a bridge that overlooks the lively central court that houses a frangipani tree. A spiral staircase from the balcony of one of the top bedrooms connects to the terrace above, which houses a party zone.A single flight staircase from the ground floor to the first floor accommodates a powder room along with storage space and a wine rack below it. The horizontal strips on the storage accentuate the linear character of the ground floor space. An end to end cladding in black granite stone interspersed with wooden strips connect the living and dining spaces, while providing protection from the ground water seepage arising due to the proximity of the sea.