Roar, UAE: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022

Roar, UAE: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022

Pallavi Dean’s studio Roar and its UAE home for a local entrepreneur have made it into the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022, our annual list of exciting emerging practices from across the globe.

Who: Roar

United Arab Emirates-based architecture and interior design studio Roar has been led by founder and creative director Pallavi Dean since 2013. Having worked internationally as a designer and lecturer, Dean brings an eclectic mix of influences to projects that span all scales and typologies. The studio combines freeform creativity with evidence-based methods in research, construction and design. 

The studio works across public, educational and residential spaces, as well as designing products such as lighting, seating and rugs. Partnerships – with Vitra and American Hardwood Export Council, amongst others – are sprinkled throughout its portfolio, demonstrating the wide range of opportunities that this creative team has embraced since its inception. The designs produced by Roar are both grand and refined. While the style of its projects may vary widely, depending on their respective use and needs, they are all cleanly finished and purposeful. Some are more minimalist, monochromatic spaces, while others use well-placed bursts of colour and eccentric fittings to achieve a distinctive identity, exhibiting Roar’s range and capacity. 

What: Anas Bukhash House

In 2020, Roar was approached for a ‘bat-cave’ in Al Barsha South in Dubai for Emirati entrepreneur Anas Bukhash. The resulting 400 sq m house feels warm and comfortable, while distinctly contemporary; it is furnished with plush sofas and bespoke seating, while maintaining an open feel thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows. 

A series of glass-walled rooms reveals the house to the outside world, while a concrete patio, palm trees and bushes wrap around its perimeter. The greenery is a counterweight to the linear structure of the house; a monolithic concrete staircase sits in the middle of the property, from where black metal-edged glazing frames the leafy view beyond. Each element in Bukhash’s house is carefully selected to create a coherent, harmonious – if almost monochromatic – whole, as black ceiling panels run parallel with light fittings and the exterior of the house is made up of dark grey and white cubes. The interiors feature a mix of luxury furniture brands, such as Moroso, Vitra, Flos and Dada, and bespoke fittings. The presence of curved lines in the bathrooms contrasts with the rest of the house; cylindrical white sinks and a dramatic, concrete-effect porcelain bathtub fill the spaces, their freestanding forms adding to the sense of minimalism. 

Why: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022

Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 22nd edition. Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, the USA, and Vietnam with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.

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