Residence One · DHA Phase VIII, Karachi

Float

A living room suspended between the ground floor and the basement, held above the swimming pool and reached by a glass bridge. The house takes its name from that one room, and its plan from the void the room sits in.

Three-quarter render of Residence One at dusk, lit living room behind full-height glazing

Plot: 500 sq yds
Covered: 8,200+ sq ft
Levels: Basement · Ground · First · Roof
Bedrooms: Five
Completion: 2027

The suspended room

You cross a glass bridge to reach it. The pool lies twelve feet below; skylights carry daylight down past you from the roof. The room belongs to neither floor it sits between, and every other space in the house is arranged around the volume it occupies.

The section

The ground plane opens and the basement rises to meet it, so the two read as one space crossed at mid-height. Daylight reaches the lowest level through light wells and skylights rather than stopping at the plinth. Below road level: a pool deck and sitting area, a home theatre, a multi-purpose hall, a study and a gym.

The street

Long, unbroken boundary walls in fair-faced concrete. A brass-lined canopy over the entrance, vertical timber across the upper volume. The house shows the street almost nothing and turns its glazing inward, onto its own courtyards and voids.

The rooms

The ground floor holds drawing and dining, a living area, two bedrooms, and both main and back-of-house kitchens. Above, a master suite of twenty-five by fifteen feet with its own living room, two further bedrooms and a terrace. Twenty-one solid doors in mahogany and kale, full height, from a single workshop in one approved polish. Stone selected at the slab. Brass left to patina.

The build

Ground was broken in May. Every stage is photographed as it happens.

May 2026

Foundation

Excavation closed, the raft tied and poured. Everything above is set by what happens here.

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Drawings on site — Drawings on siteMay 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Raft reinforcement — Raft reinforcementMay 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Reinforcement, tied — Reinforcement, tiedMay 2026

June 2026

Grey structure

Slab formwork, starter bars and the first vertical elements. The section begins to read.

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Slab formwork and starter bars — Slab formwork and starter barsJune 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Formwork from below — Formwork from belowJune 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Chasing for conduit — Chasing for conduitJune 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Checking a line — Checking a lineJune 2026

July 2026

Plaster

Render laid, straightened and squared. Surfaces that carry the light are made flat first.

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Rendering — RenderingJuly 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Render, second pass — Render, second passJuly 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Straightedge on fresh plaster — Straightedge on fresh plasterJuly 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Reviewing the work — Reviewing the workJuly 2026

August 2026

Joinery

Twenty-one solid doors in mahogany and kale, seasoned and polished to one approved shade before any reach the house.

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Stock, seasoning — Stock, seasoningAugust 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — The bench — The benchAugust 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Polish shades — Polish shadesAugust 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — A finished sill — A finished sillAugust 2026

September 2026

The void

One vertical volume runs the full height of the house. The pool sits at the bottom of it, the living room hangs beside it, and a single radiused corner repeats on every level.

Float, DHA Phase VIII — From the floating living room, looking to the entrance (photograph with the finished intent drawn over it) — From the floating living room, looking to the entranceOverlay

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Looking up through the void (photograph with the finished intent drawn over it) — Looking up through the voidOverlay

Float, DHA Phase VIII — The curved opening (photograph with the finished intent drawn over it) — The curved openingOverlay

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Across the void to the first floor (photograph with the finished intent drawn over it) — Across the void to the first floorOverlay

October 2026

The pour

Concrete arrives in pans and crosses the site by hand. The props stay under the slab until it can carry itself.

Fifteen seconds on siteOctober 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Read again before the pour — Read again before the pourOctober 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Sand, turned before mixing — Sand, turned before mixingOctober 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Crossing the plank — Crossing the plankOctober 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Hand to hand — Hand to handOctober 2026

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Props, still under the slab — Props, still under the slabOctober 2026

2027

Completion

Where this arrives. Furnished, lit and styled before it is shown.

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Elevation at dusk (render) — Elevation at duskRender

Float, DHA Phase VIII — Front elevation (render) — Front elevationRender

Images marked Render are visualisations of the completed house. Images marked Overlay are photographs taken on site with the finished intent drawn over them. Moving footage is silent and unedited beyond grading. Everything else is an unaltered site photograph.

Float will be released complete — furnished, styled and finished — to one owner.

Private viewings by appointment as completion approaches.