Alistair Macbeth et Pierre-Yves Serret, les deux architectes des villas premium d’ Anahita. Alistair Macbeth and Pierre-Yves Serret, the two architects of the premium villas at Anahita
The exclusive seafront plots( up to 5,118 m 2) are situated on the northern part of the estate, across from the unconventional Ile aux Cerfs Golf Club, affording breathtaking views. They mark the ultimate development phase and present one of the last opportunities to acquire freehold property along the island’ s stunning coast. In a way, these villas herald Anahita’ s upcoming 10 th year of existence. I had the chance to speak to architects, Alistair Macbeth from Macbeth Architects + Designers and Pierre-Yves Serret from Architects ' Studio.
Let’ s start with an exercise. Could you each describe the other person’ s style? Macbeth: I actually do not like the word“ style”. I think it confuses people. Architecture is in perpetual motion. It evolves from the initial plan. The materials used. There are so many aspects to architecture. From those, a‘ style’ emerges.
Serret: Style kills style. If you are caught-up in the idea of style, then it makes it difficult to evolve as a designer. I see great evolution in the homes you have built here at Anahita. I think that shows versatility and, I imagine, various responses to the client’ s evolving briefs.
Macbeth: It is absolutely true. It has been 13 years since I designed the first villas at Anahita. I remember I was asked to design a villa which would take into consideration a constantly evolving market. As an architect, you must take into account these sorts of external factors.
Serret: When you think of Anahita’ s development, sure you think of infrastructure. But what you really notice is the space around the object and less the object itself. Architecture does that. It creates spaces. Within the interstices, the liminal space, emerges a sense of belonging, of community. Anahita has achieved that.
So, Alteo, the client, has given you the opportunity to design luxurious villas on, what is, an invaluable seafront property. What have you come up with? Serret: There is a great Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa, the precursor of tropical modernism, whose vernacular architecture tells the story of a region. My proposal for Anahita aspires to
heighten the sanctuary, to give meaning to the term“ World Class Sanctuary.” The architecture is integrated into the surroundings to the point it almost disappears in order to let nature be. There is a desire to regenerate the region’ s natural habitat over a ten-year period by replacing Eucalyptus trees for instance, which dry out the soil, with endemic species.
Macbeth: For the conception of the premium villas, I revisited our local traditional architecture. I took a colonial chateau and deconstructed it, then reconstructed it. There are components of Mauritian architecture, take the courtyard or the imposing entrance verenda that can be infused into modernism. The villas I have designed present an entrance facade and a garden facade linked by the salon and dining spaces so benefitting from cross ventilation, important in tropical climate, as well as providing a sense of openness within the villa. The conception of the space enables its inhabitants to migrate within their own home, to evolve within that space.
What is the first thing one notices at Anahita? Macbeth: Nature. It was originally a farming area. You still see some of the avenues of trees that are centuries old. The growth of the natural environment in the past ten years has been fantastic.
Serret: Nature. You know, architects end up being landscapers as well. You cannot dissociate the place or the sense of place from architecture. At Anahita, where nature is intrinsic to the place, you want to compose with it. Mauritius, like Hawaii, possesses a great variety of endemic species, due in part to being isolated. This is something we want to play around with. You may call it vernacular architecture, or integrated architecture.
What do you hope to achieve with these luxurious villas? Serret: Ultimately, you want to design a home. Modernist architecture is tricky, its lines and spaces can feel cold. I suspect that when you craft something by hand, an emotional bond creates itself. You want to infuse modernity with that sort of emotion.
Macbeth: The villas need to have a soul. It is the essence of Architecture.
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