Pop Art, Along With Eye-Popping Views in Tobago
BACOLET
BAY, Trinidad and Tobago — Jay Ferreira, who was born in Trinidad and
had grown to love its sister island, Tobago, had yearned to build
something groundbreakingly modern there, eventually choosing Bacolet
Bay, a stomping ground of Hollywood celebrities in the mid-20th century,
as the site for his eco-friendly property.
Mr.
Ferreira, 35, recalled that the Blue Haven Hotel, close to his
property, which he named The Marion Villa, had hosted people like John
Lennon, Rita Hayworth and Queen Elizabeth. “This is where all the
high-end people live,” a taxi driver had remarked as he pulled up to the
property, mentioning the name of a retired United Nations diplomat who
lived nearby.
But
for Mr. Ferreira, a real estate and securities investor, the $1.8
million property was another step in realizing his goal of owning guest
properties throughout the Caribbean that “stay clear of the classical Caribbean architecture” with its colonial influence.
The
Marion Villa is a boxy, 2,225-square-foot villa named after Mr.
Ferreira’s mother. It was designed in 2013 by a husband-and-wife team of
architects, Mandilee and Timothy Newton, who are based in Port of
Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
In
designing the property, the Newtons said, they sought to create an axis
so that anyone entering the home by the front door would immediately be
met with an ocean view. The house has no windows facing the driveway
leading up to it, but inside the house, sliding glass doors run the
length of the side facing the water. On a terrace is a Jacuzzi that
feeds into a salt-water pool. Beyond its edge, the property drops
steeply into an as-yet-undeveloped garden space, just steps from the
water.
The
house, which is painted white, with black trim, is made of concrete,
steel and glass and is decorated in what Mr. Ferreira described as a
“modern pop” style. Reproductions of art by Roy Lichtenstein are in each
of the bedrooms, and decals of images by Banksy adorn the walls by the
staircase.
Upstairs,
three en suite bedrooms sit side by side and, with the rest of the
house, share a harmonious color scheme. A balcony of tempered glass was
constructed so as not to block a seaview and runs the length of the
three bedrooms. “When you are lying in bed, you can see right out,” Ms.
Newton said.
The bathrooms were also designed to allow unhindered vistas of the sea.
Over
the stairwell is a skylight. “We tried to use a passive approach to
sustainability,” Ms. Newton said. “We have let a lot of natural light
into the spaces to reduce reliance on electrical lighting.”
“We
tried to allow the breeze to pass through the house naturally,” she
added. “It’s designed with natural windflow patterns. We used low-flush
and low-flow fixtures. We also reduced the amount of materials used; we
did not tile the floors, so it is a polished concrete floor.”
According
to the Newtons, Mr. Ferreira was a dream client. “He had a lot of
ideas, and he just needed us to articulate it for him,” Ms. Newton said.
http://www.nytimes.com
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