Villa RB

Villa RB is a private beachfront residence in Ramlet El Baida, Beirut, occupying a 9,000 sqm site directly facing the Mediterranean. Surrounded by high-rise residential buildings on three sides and the seafront on the fourth, the project responds to a fundamental challenge: creating privacy and enclosure while maintaining a strong relationship with the landscape, water and sea.

The house is conceived as a composition of solid volumes organized around two internal courtyards. Rather than forming a single object, the volumes are separated and shifted according to their different functions, creating a sequence of protected indoor and outdoor spaces. The courtyards act as urban windows within the composition, bringing light, landscape and openness deep into the house while shielding its private spaces from the surrounding city.

At ground level, the reception and main living areas open directly onto an expansive landscaped garden facing the Mediterranean and terminating in an infinity pool. Water becomes an organizing element of the project: a continuous water path begins at the entrance and extends through the architecture toward the swimming pool, reinforcing the visual and spatial connection between arrival, house, garden and sea.

The varying heights of the volumes establish a hierarchy between the different areas of the residence. A transitional level provides greater privacy to the bedrooms and guest areas, while the master suite occupies the upper floor with a more privileged relationship to the surrounding views.

Local light-colored stone and large areas of glazing define the material character of the villa. The contrast between solid stone volumes and transparent openings emphasizes the composition while balancing enclosure with openness.

Villa RB transforms the constraints of a dense urban beachfront setting into an architecture of courtyards, landscape and water—creating a private residential environment connected to the Mediterranean while protected from the city around it.