AMG Remodels Dubai Villa Around Its Original Arches and Roofs

A residential villa of 5,500 square feet in Jumeirah Islands in Dubai has been completely remodelled by AMG Design Consultants, with the architects retaining its pitched roofs and arched openings while changing the layout, extending the structure and opening the interiors towards the garden.

AMG is a family practice that works between Dubai and Italy, run by the architect Anna Maria Giangrasso with her father, the architect Mario Giangrasso. They specialise in architecture, interiors, landscapes and lighting.

The villa belongs to a young entrepreneurial couple with a newborn, who approached AMG after visiting the home of close friends previously designed by the studio. "The existing villa felt dated and disjointed with a fragmented layout, poor connection between spaces, and landscaping that no longer served the family," Giangrasso says.

"They wanted a home that felt luxurious yet warm, a true family sanctuary rather than a showpiece."

The family asked for open, fluid spaces with an organic flow between rooms, alongside a landscape built around genuine, wild, natural planting and a generous swimming pool for everyday living and entertaining.

"The homeowners came to us for full design consultancy, open to our recommendation on approach," Giangrasso says. "Rather than a villa needing demolition, we saw a structure with real hidden potential."

Completed in June 2026, Villa Arcadia is a renovation project that aims to make this house contemporary while keeping its sloping roofs, arches and unique character intact, and treating them as the starting point for the redesign.

The studio reconsidered the plan throughout the property, creating extensions for additional space, enclosing the double-height entrance and ground-floor loggia to expand the interior, enlarging existing openings and reorganising the living areas for better movement through the house.

Large arched glass doors were installed to bring more daylight into the house and to open it back, connecting the living spaces directly with the garden. The façade was also reworked around arched windows, a pitched roof and refined mouldings.

Externally, the garden is laid around two elements: the swimming pool, made in the shape of the plot, and a mature olive tree at the heart of it. The tree is lined up with the house, so from the entrance courtyard you can see straight through the living spaces and out to it at the back of the plot.

Internally, the architects have used travertine, and the marbles Statuario and Calacatta Viola, alongside timber, white oak joinery and bronze detailing across the residence. Even storage is integrated into the architecture.

"The kitchen was designed as the true front of the house, a space in dialogue with the surrounding living and dining areas rather than separate from them," Giangrasso says.

Executed with The Cut Milano, a Milan-based Italian kitchen design showroom, it combines travertine and oak finishes for warmth and material contrast. "At its heart, a generous island counter acts as the family's everyday gathering point, as much a meeting place for friends as a working kitchen."

"Our ambition was to demonstrate that transformation can be every bit as powerful as new construction," Giangrasso says. "Rather than replacing the existing home, we focused on unlocking its potential through integrated design, creating spaces that feel intuitive, calm and connected while responding to the way contemporary families live."

The furniture selection for the project has been a collaboration between AMG and Dubai-based furniture, art and collectible design platform Atelio. They procured the furniture for the indoor and outdoor spaces, using Kettal furniture throughout the terraces and sitting areas.

Indoors, the rooms have been furnished with Italian pieces selected to complement the palette and layout.

"Personality comes from mixing things: timeless furniture, objects with a story, artwork and pieces collected over time," Ruggero Ottogalli, CEO of Atelio, says. "These are the details that make a home feel as though it truly belongs to someone, rather than looking like it has simply been designed for a photograph."