Set on the ground floor of one of Old Town Dubai’s low rise buildings, this apartment by Elamo Studio unfolds less through square metres than through atmosphere. Compact in footprint yet unexpectedly expansive in feeling, the residence opens onto a terrace equal in size to the interior, extending domestic life outward and softening the boundaries between inside and outside.
The project began not with a stylistic reference but with a mood. Old Town’s quieter rhythm, its sandy palette, shaded pathways and textured materiality became the emotional register through which the designers approached the space. “Old Town has a very different rhythm compared to the rest of Dubai,” says Irina Ivchenko, Founder of ELAMO Studio together with Mikhail Ivchenko. “It feels quieter, softer, more textured. We were inspired less by specific architectural details and more by the atmosphere itself, the sandy tones, shaded walkways, thick walls, natural stone, and the way light moves through the buildings during the day.”
Rather than producing an overtly regional interior, the studio translated those impressions into subtle spatial and material decisions. “We didn’t want the apartment to feel themed or overtly Arabic,” Irina explains. “Instead, we tried to capture the feeling of the neighborhood in a more subtle way. The palette became warmer and more grounded, the transitions softer, the materials more tactile.”
At just 45 square metres, editing became a design strategy. “In smaller spaces, visual noise becomes very loud very quickly,” the designers explains. “So for us, the project was really about editing, removing anything unnecessary and allowing the apartment to breathe.”
One of the apartment’s greatest advantages was also one of its least visible interventions. Because the residence sits on the ground floor, Elamo had the technical freedom to significantly raise the ceiling heights in both the living room and bedroom. Door openings followed, introducing verticality and changing the apartment’s proportions entirely. “That decision completely changed the spatial feeling of the apartment,” Irina tells us. “Suddenly, the apartment began to feel lighter, calmer, and filled with much more air and openness.”
The terrace quickly became central to the project. “Very early in the process, we realised the terrace was not secondary to the apartment, it was actually its strongest feature,” the studio says. Rather than conceiving it as an exterior zone, Elamo treated it as an extension of the interior atmosphere. Similar tones, tactile continuity and softened transitions dissolve the distinction between indoors and outdoors. “The apartment almost feels as though it doubles in size once the doors are opened.”
Materiality carries much of the emotional weight of the project. Travertine, marble and natural veneer were selected not for visual drama but for sensory nuance. “We approached the material palette almost emotionally rather than decoratively,” Irina says. “Every material was chosen for the feeling it creates when light touches it or when you physically interact with it.”
Travertine “brought a certain quietness and softness,” marble introduced “depth and subtle contrast,” while natural veneer made the apartment feel “more intimate and lived in.” The walls remain intentionally pale, allowing texture to emerge slowly, while wallpaper appears only in the bedroom where, as the studio notes, it functions “more in a tactile role than a decorative one.”
Light behaves almost like another finish. Because of the ground floor position, daylight arrives filtered and soft, shifting gradually across surfaces throughout the day. “Travertine becomes warmer in the evening, the veneer gains depth in the morning, and even the neutral walls shift tone,” Elamo says. “We wanted the apartment to feel slightly different depending on the hour, calmer in the morning, warmer at sunset, more intimate at night.”
The result quietly resists the dominant image of Dubai interiors. “This project was never about making a statement,” the studio reflects. “It was about creating a feeling, a home that feels quiet, tactile, and deeply personal despite being located in the centre of the city.” Increasingly, Elamo suggests, luxury lies elsewhere: “less about excess and more about emotional quality. Natural light, calmness, warmth, privacy, and a sense of ease.”
