Set within the lush, low-rise landscape of Al Mahra in Dubai’s Arabian Ranches, this private villa unfolds as a study in material presence with an interior inseparable from its environment. Rather than leaning on decorative excess or stylistic shorthand, interior architect Marie Claire Mrad approached the project as a meditation on substance: how weight, texture, and light can define domestic life in a region shaped by sun, shadow, and heat.
Completed as a full renovation of a 2007 villa originally inspired by traditional Arabic architecture, the residence belongs to Christopher Hani, owner and CEO of Bull Contracting, and his family. From the outset, the home was conceived not only as a place to live, but as an opportunity to push craftsmanship, detailing, and construction techniques to their limits. This ambition – shared by Mrad and Hani – is evident throughout an interior that replaces conventional partitions with material articulation, and ornament with structure itself.
At approximately 4,575 square feet indoors, with an additional 3,230 square feet of outdoor living, the villa is organized around a radically open ground floor. All interior walls were removed, leaving behind a sequence of living, dining, and bar spaces that flow uninterrupted toward the terrace and garden beyond. Rather than being concealed, structural columns are wrapped in brushed stainless steel, becoming vertical markers that subtly organize the plan without enclosing it.
This openness is not about visual minimalism alone; it is about climate and lifestyle. A custom-engineered facade allows the entire ground floor to open onto the terrace at the push of a button, with glass panels sliding seamlessly to one side. In doing so, the interior expands outward, dissolving the threshold between inside and outside in a gesture that feels particularly attuned to Dubai’s culture of evening gatherings and outdoor living.
Material selection became the project’s central design language. Mrad chose finishes for their tactile depth and ability to age gracefully: brushed stainless steel, lava stone, gunmetal steel, and dark-stained wood form the backbone of the interior. These are not surfaces applied for effect, but elements that carry visual weight, grounding the home and lending it a sense of permanence.
The color palette follows suit – deep charcoal, steel gray, and dark stone hues dominate, softened by carefully placed accents in desaturated blue. The effect is intentionally moody, yet never cold. “The challenge,” Mrad notes, “was finding the balance – allowing the materials to be bold without overwhelming the sense of home.” The solution lies in restraint: color is used sparingly, texture does the heavy lifting, and light is treated as a material in its own right.
At the heart of the house, a sculptural staircase rises beneath a skylight, drawing daylight deep into the plan. As the sun shifts throughout the day, light grazes stainless steel surfaces, reflects off dark mirrors, and animates the stairwell with a constantly changing glow. This vertical axis becomes both a spatial anchor and a moment of quiet drama.
That dialogue between light and matter finds its most expressive moment at the bar: a 13-foot Patagonia stone slab, backlit to reveal its crystalline interior. Shipped from Lebanon and installed with exacting precision, the glowing stone acts as a luminous counterpoint to the darker materials around it. By night, it becomes the emotional center of the home, reinforcing the owners’ love of hosting and gathering.
Every piece of furniture and lighting was designed specifically for the project by Mrad’s Beirut studio, then fabricated and shipped to Dubai. This bespoke approach ensures that scale, proportion, and materiality remain consistent throughout from custom seating to site-specific lighting elements that echo the home’s architectural rhythms.
Art and objects were curated with equal care. A Spider chandelier by Mb-Designlab Paris anchors the main living area along the entrance axis, while a monumental face mask sculpture by Cape Town artist Marco Oliver commands the double-height stair wall. Elsewhere, a painting from Bali and sculptural Dragon and Buddha figures from Thailand introduce moments of cultural resonance and narrative depth, reinforcing the home’s global yet grounded sensibility.
While unmistakably modern, the Al Mahra residence feels deeply tied to its location. Its openness responds to climate; its palette mirrors the desert’s tonal range from daylight to dusk; its reliance on mass, shadow, and texture echoes the region’s architectural traditions without mimicking them. This is a house defined not by style, but by an atmosphere that celebrates material truth and the quiet power of well-executed craft.
To learn more about the interior architect, visit marieclairemrad.com.
Photography by Walid Rashid.