It is hard to believe that this magnificent Emirates Hills home, shared by entrepreneur Mahesh Shahdadpuri, his wife Payal and their two children, was half its size just five years ago. A build initially intended as a commercial project, the space was transformed into a family home. “The homeowners worked so incredibly well with us and entrusted us to take the design forward,” shares Ellen Søhoel, founder of award-winning design firm XBD Collective. The vision? To create a striking U-shaped structure with a focus on indoor-outdoor living, functionality and sun-drenched spaces.
As a firm motivated by human experience, a multi-functional home was of the upmost importance. “There are five different purposes for the ground floor; they all melt into one,” explains Ellen. However, combining the interests of four individuals into one coherent space is not as easy as her team makes it look. “To get all the different elements together was quite tricky. When you try to get a gym in the middle of the family living room and then have to think creatively to combine a gaming area and a juice bar and an open kitchen – having different purposes in one space was a big challenge.”
Floor-to-ceiling windows in both the formal and family living rooms open onto the outdoors, drenching the space in natural light and allowing for that all-important flow, even when separated by a swimming pool fit for a Maldivian resort. “The pool and the fireplace sit between the formal lounge and family lounge to create as much openness and as much daylight as we could while simultaneously making it work as both a formal and family floor,” comments Ellen. Ambience and flow were core elements of the project, with each room designed to evoke feelings of calm through seamless transitions aided by the use of Crema Uno marble and Arte wallpaper throughout the ground floor.
A neutral palette is a go-to in Ellen’s designs as it adds serenity and sophistication to the space; elements rooted in the design firm’s ethos. “Our main design philosophy was to create the atmosphere for comfort and luxury at the same time,” she explains. “So, you take beautiful but practical spaces that are especially impressive.” The living space – punctuated by sandy Visionnaire sofas and jet-black Cassoni coffee tables – features a book-matched Orobico grey marble centre bar with an incredibly detailed Élitis wallpaper, although it is the other corner that captured Ellen’s heart. “If you look at the piano from the front you can see the black-and-white wall wraps around behind it to mimic its keys. The piano was imitated in the ambience with wallpaper and feature lighting. It is one of my favourite elements.”
The sprawling villa is astonishing enough by day, but dusk is when it truly comes alive. “At night the villa has a serene look and feel about it. Very open, very calming and there is a very natural flow between the spaces,” says Ellen. “Using indirect lighting techniques such as inward lighting for all the joinery features adds to the ambience.”
While having a vision is the first step in any successful project, turning that vision into an exquisite 1,350 square-metre reality takes one element that money can’t buy: Trust. In this case, the Shahdadpuri family’s trust in XBD Collective. “They knew what they wanted. Trust is not always easy. They were amazing.”
