Nungwi Villas

This tropical villa in Zanzibar keeps things simple and striking. The triangle roof instantly catches your eye, giving the home a unique silhouette that feels both modern and rooted in traditional design. Floor-to-ceiling windows open up the entire front of the house, letting in tons of natural light.

A single steep A-frame gives Nungwi Villas its outline. The three-bedroom, 148 m² modern tropical design is for Zanzibar, Tanzania, and from the street its gable is almost closed: white render pierced by four narrow vertical windows of different heights, behind a board-marked concrete wall with a timber door. The roof and its exposed rafter ends come down low on both sides of the house.

On the garden side the gable is glazed from deck to apex in black-framed panels, and the lower doors fold back so the living room opens onto a timber deck and a pool set between board-marked concrete walls. Inside, a stepped sunken lounge faces a long dining table and a timber wall of lit shelving that holds the kitchen, under a slatted timber ceiling, with full-height glazing down both sides.

The bedrooms sit under the pitch, with timber-lined ceilings, woven wall panels, carved wall pieces and low platform beds, and one has its own glazed gable end looking into the garden. Bathrooms combine stone feature walls, freestanding tubs, stone vessel basins and trailing plants.

• Steep A-frame with a fully glazed garden gable
• Folding glass doors onto the pool deck
• Street gable with four narrow vertical windows
• Stepped sunken lounge under a slatted timber ceiling
• Board-marked concrete boundary walls around the pool
• Bedrooms under the pitch with timber-lined ceilings