Client & Owner: Jafferjees

Design Scope: Architecture, Landscape architecture

Design Team: Saifullah Sami, Raza Aziz, Rooshan Zamir

Location: Hawkes’ Bay, Karachi, Pakistan

Consultants: Structural - Nafees Khatri, Mechanical Electrical & Plumbing - Seljuk Associates

Total Area: 1,800 soft

Completion Date: February 2025

Photography by: Keen Eye

This beach hut looks out not only towards the Indian Ocean but also towards the mangrove forests - a fast disappearing natural asset of the city. To this effect, the pavilion-like structure offers various vantage points.

To create a sense of prospect and refuge, a cantilevered roof above the ground floor deck affords an unhindered panorama of the ocean. A lighter pergola roof of bamboo spans the first floor to offer a shaded stepped terrace served by a bar and bench.

The interior space is laid out as an architectural promenade towards the sea. A sequence of expanding and contracting spaces - including an interstitial cascading staircase - before the final release at the beach-front.

The environment of Karachi’s coastline is highly corrosive with deteriorated hulks of beach houses littering the beaches. As a protective measure the exposed faces of concrete are encased in white sandstone.

Reminiscent of a beached vessel, the design of the plinth is that of a raised plateau with a tapered face to break the force of the nocturnal high tide.

The form of the house is yet another expression of our search for an architecture of “platforms and plateaus” - to use Jorn Utzon’s phrase. The floor as a dominant architectural element assumes an important place in our work because of its role in creating a place and in creating a grounded human experience (we’re never too far from a horizontal plane………)

Local light quality is also important for the definition of place. At this beach hut the strong Karachi sun plays off of masses and filters through linear elements. The shadows cast bring a sense of repose in an environment of high solar exposure.

The much-maligned tree Conocarpus - itself a type of mangrove - is incorporated into the landscaping of the beach house as this is its true habitat.