Building & Investment (Jan - Feb 2016) (Jan - Feb 2016) | Page 68

Design Feature

Creative designer transforms
a garden flat into a ‘villa’
Designer ROHD goes all out to turn a flat in the posh neighbourhood
of Rabieh, Lebanon, into a luxurious dwelling.
HAV I N G T H E v i s u a l a p p e a l a n d
sophistication of a villa, this ground floor
garden flat is an eye-catching trompe l’oeil
that draws from interior architecture master
tricks that command—besides the inevitable
amazement—scrutiny.
Roland Helou Design (ROHD) is behind
the interior design marvel for this flat whose
intriguing design will delightfully bemuse
even the most philistine eye.
ROHD is a Beirut-based (Lebanon)
interior architecture and multi-disciplinary
design studio that rests on the aesthetic
sensibility and design expertise of Roland
Helou, a master graduate of the University of
the Arts London.
The garden flat has no dull corners or any
detail left to whims or spontaneity. Everything
is thought-out and even the silent spaces are
studied.
Conceived for a young professional
64 Building & Investment | www.b-i.biz

couple, the garden flat stretches across 300
sq metres of ground floor space in a building
located in Rabieh, Beirut’s most affluent
suburb, nested on a hillside to the north of
the city.
Seamlessly blending with a quaint
outdoor garden, the flat appears like a
villa. This result is achieved through clever
execution of curtain glass and a terrace
serving dual usage: annexed living space in
winter and an extension of the garden in
summer.
Luxurious fittings abound, such as the
Onyx marble and black lacquered wood lit
bar that protrudes to the outdoor area, serving
as an organic connection along with the large
curtain glass doors. Another impressive piece
is the black basalt built-in chimney of the
main living room. Made of volcanic stones,
it radiates a distinctive blend of elegance and
dominance, like that of the central jewel of a