< Previous60 commercialinteriordesign.comResidential ProjectJuly 2025 EMPIRE STATE of design Inside Dubai’s New York Villa by C’est Ici61 commercialinteriordesign.comResidential ProjectJuly 202562 commercialinteriordesign.comResidential ProjectJuly 202563 commercialinteriordesign.comJuly 2025 In the heart of Barsha 3, a residential villa has been transformed into a space that challenges the norms of what a family home can look and feel like. Designed by Monica Arango, founder of C’est Ici Design, alongside Montse Purata and Johnny Matta, the New York project blends unapologetic artistic intent with lived-in functionality. “This villa is a curated narrative, composed of thought-provoking pieces that ignite curiosity and leave a lasting impression,” says Arango. Spanning two oors and approximately 240 sq m per level, the villa was entirely renovated for clients Rasha and Ahmad Itani. The goal was never to create something traditionally ‘beautiful’ or decorative. Instead, the brief pushed toward something conceptual, layered and emotionally resonant. “In a world of curated designs and mass- produced elements, this villa is a living gallery,” Arango explains. That spirit runs through every detail. Materials are honest and expressive. Contrasts between smooth and raw, muted and bold create a tactile rhythm. Artworks and statement furniture are not accents but central to the architectural dialogue. Arango describes the aesthetic as “blending avant-garde creativity with a raw urban energy.” Residential Project64 commercialinteriordesign.comResidential ProjectJuly 2025 The effect is a home that doesn’t simply showcase taste but communicates identity. Rooms transition like scenes in a play. Some feel meditative, others jolt the senses with scale or colour. Circulation has been opened to allow light and air to move freely, while textural moments, rough stone, burnished metal and matte black xtures anchor the interior. This is a villa that does not rely on excess or opulence. It relies on conviction. Arango’s work here isn’t about trends, but storytelling through design. “It’s as captivating as it is inspiring,” she says, and she’s right. The nished project doesn’t just offer a new de nition of luxury, it reclaims authenticity as its own kind of status symbol. Arango and her team have created something rare: A house that resists polish in favour of personality, a space that feels lived in, not staged. It’s an approach that favours mood over motif and one that could in uence the direction of Dubai’s residential design. “In a mass-produced world of curated designs, this villa is a living gallery”65 commercialinteriordesign.comResidential ProjectJuly 202566 commercialinteriordesign.comWorld ViewJuly 202567 commercialinteriordesign.comWorld ViewJuly 2025 São Paulo’s Salma Tower is of ce architecture gone good CORPORATE G reen68 commercialinteriordesign.comWorld ViewJuly 2025 IN THE HEART OF SÃO PAULO’S BELA VISTA DISTRICT, a forest is quietly rising, one oor at a time. Designed by a alo/gasperini arquitetos, Salma Tower challenges the conventions of commercial high-rises with a bold proposition: nature, not just as adornment, but as architecture. Spanning 16 oors and standing 80 meters tall, the tower integrates 1,200 sq m of native Atlantic Forest throughout its terraces. Fruit trees, shaded walkways, and birdsong lter into the rhythms of corporate life. Far from a greenwashed gesture, this is biophilia with purpose calmly woven into the building’s structure, not retro tted onto it. The result is a Triple-A corporate space that holds a LEED Platinum certi cation and positions itself among the top ve most sustainable buildings of its class worldwide. But more than a benchmark in environmental 6869 commercialinteriordesign.comWorld ViewJuly 2025 performance, Salma Tower presents a new model of workplace, one where well-being and productivity are inseparable. Each level is bordered by spiralling terraces, creating a vertical ecosystem that softens the skyline. Natural ventilation and daylighting strategies are supported by smart systems and low-impact materials. The interior experience is sensory and uid: no sharp transitions, no sterile zones, just a quiet dialogue between built form and living matter. The project’s ambition is not only technical but philosophical. It proposes a shift in urban thinking, one where buildings give back to the city, rather than simply occupying it. Salma Tower offers “The project’s ambition is not only technical but philosophical, proposing a shift in thinking”Next >