Villa at Al Barari

Al Barari is Dubai at its greenest, and this interior defers to that. Full-height glazing pulls the gardens into almost every room. The palette stays quiet: pale stone floors, sheer curtains, book-matched marble where the eye should rest.

The stair is the centrepiece. Marble treads float past a fluted stone wall, each one lit from beneath, held by glass so the light passes straight through. It reads less like a staircase and more like furniture.

The study shows the darker register of the same house. A wall of black joinery, marble-backed and lit shelf by shelf, under a chandelier of crystal pebbles. By day it works as an office. In the evening it becomes the room the photographs below show.