Swordfish is a touristic residential complex implemented in Kenya, not far from Malindi Marine National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1979. It includes fourteen villas that are built around a system of pools in the lush vegetation preceding the Indian Ocean . The customer searched for a solution that could combine the local tradition with the expectations of clients coming from all over the world. Thus the intervention responds with an architecture that recalls the style of local houses. For example, the roofs in “tiles” of palm leaves rest on candid structures looking towards the pools thanks to the outdoor living spaces. Water and green areas play a key role to corroborate the idea of a place not only sensitive to the image of the exotic tropics, but also chilled out and relaxed. On one hand in fact, water animates the pools and aggregates the villas, on the other it creates niches that favour privacy through a series of bends; the green areas instead helps to confirm an intimate and close atmosphere thanks to the lush vegetation between a villa and the other.
Customer: Swordfish VILLAGE l.t.d.
Location: Malindi, Kenya
Type: residential-touristic
Surface: 3,800 square meters (lot area), 1,650 square meters (built area), 600 sqm (pools)
Status and year of completion of work: made, 2013
Residential, Concept, Leisure