Not every renovation begins with demolition. Sometimes it begins with noticing what is already there.
When designer D’Ora Tokai first visited this Spanish-style villa, The White Arcade, in Dubai’s The Villa community, she wasn’t interested in replacing its identity so much as distilling it. Hidden beneath dark finishes, exposed beams and decorative detailing was a quieter architectural gesture: a handful of arches. Those curves would become the organising principle for an entirely different way of living.
Designed for an Emirati couple with three children, the 675-square-metre house was conceived as a refuge from demanding professional lives. Rather than filling the interiors with objects or decorative moments, Tokai relies on architecture itself to establish atmosphere. Arches are repeated across doorways, windows and openings, creating long sightlines that connect rooms without ever fully revealing them. Movement through the house becomes slower, softer and surprisingly intuitive.
“Our client wished for a home that restores her the moment she steps inside,” says Tokai. “The White Arcade was shaped around this need for sanctuary.”
The intervention is perhaps most apparent in the central courtyard. Once a sunken outdoor space, it has been levelled with the rest of the ground floor and enclosed beneath a glazed roof, becoming the spatial and emotional centre of the home. A bespoke C-shaped sofa by DOT Objects follows the geometry of the surrounding arches, turning what might have been a circulation space into the family’s favourite place to gather.
Elsewhere, restraint becomes the project’s greatest luxury. Picture-frame wall mouldings introduce a subtle European order, while light oak herringbone flooring runs uninterrupted through the living spaces and into the courtyard, reinforcing the sense of continuity. Carrara marble, travertine, white onyx, quartz and warm brass add texture without competing for attention.
Nearly every significant piece of furniture was designed specifically for the house by DOT Objects, from the white onyx dining table to the sofas, beds and casual dining table. Selected additions, including bar stools from CB2, armchairs and a chaise longue by Crate & Barrel, Pantone dining chairs by Vitra and formal dining chairs by West Elm, bring character while remaining secondary to the architecture.
The only deliberate interruption to the home’s restrained palette appears in the preparation kitchen, where sage-green cabinetry quietly signals that this is a house designed for everyday family life rather than display.
It is tempting to describe The White Arcade as minimalist, but that would overlook its defining quality. This is not a project about subtraction for its own sake. Instead, it demonstrates how repetition, proportion and a single architectural gesture can fundamentally change the way a house is experienced. Here, the arch is not simply a motif; it is the element that connects cultures, organises space and gives an ordinary suburban villa an unexpected sense of calm.
