Villa Space
Type: architectural project | Location: Unawatuna, Sri Lanka
Area: 450 sq.m. | Status: built (2018)
Team: Nikita Feoktistov, Slava Nozdrachova
This is one of the projects that can’t be called typical for our studio. First, the building is located in Sri-Lanka. Second: despite that fact, we passed through all stages of it, participating in absolutely everything: we developed schematic and layout for constructions, developed architectural project, interior designs, and even visited the place, met Sri Lankan workers on site!
Villa Space on Sri-Lanka is a small hotel with few rooms and common lounge zone, terraces, swimming pool, and a hall for yoga classes. Also, the place has a building for personnel with a kitchen, laundry room, and additional guest rooms. But the main thing is, of course, the territory, the view on the ocean! Villa is in the heights, and it’s hard to reach there even on a moped. After the climb, though, you realize it worthed it! From the terraces guests can see the ocean through palm trees, even hear the waves; a lot of trees are around: mango, tamarinds, date palms – all of it is drowning in green. We tried to make a design that will help guests relax in this atmosphere: absolute freedom, openness, natural materials are dominant in floor plans – as well as in every detail of the villa.
Working on the architectural project, we collaborated with Gennadiy Lieshchuck, and that was an unforgettable experience! We started with schematics. Thought through the function of the buildings, defined the area where they will be situated, modelled relief formations accordingly with data and layout of Shi Lankan geodesists. Then, we started working with the form of the building. We chose the building with colonnades enclosing the building’s perimeter and a tile hip-roof with a large overhang that protects from the sun and rain. At the same time, we created interior designs and floor plans with Dmitriy Zaporozhets, worked through kitchen configurations with Vova Tashev; right now, that kitchen is the source of wonderful breakfasts (and not only them) for Villa’s guests.
The project has lots of interest details and solutions worth telling about. For instance, shower rooms under the open sky, teak flooring, high ceiling in the living room and long stairways, like in Buddhist temples, etc. – we can talk about them for hours. But it’s impossible to convey the sheer joy and vibes of this place in text: you should be there, relaxing, calming your mind with a starlit sky and sunsets and animals living around. Then you should exchange the tickets to come back home later: maybe next week; maybe next month.
This project is one of the most spontaneous, unique and beautiful things we have an honour to add in our portfolio. It was an amazing experience, lots of new people, and falling in love with Sri-Lanka and its culture.
