Riva Villa by Dilek Karaman is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design Competition Category.
BronzeInterior· 2026
Riva Villa
Client: Dk Interior Architecture
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Interior Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #180354The Design
About Riva Villa
Riva Villa is a three level residence organized around a sculptural spiral stair rising through a double-height indoor garden atrium. The vertical void anchors the plan, choreographing movement and framing layered views. A continuous timber envelope improves acoustic comfort, while monolithic stone volumes ground key functions with calibrated weight. Subtle metal detailing and glare controlled, layered lighting create a refined quiet luxury atmosphere that shifts from crisp daylight to intimate evening scenes.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Riva Villa is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Riva Villa is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Riva Villa splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The main principle behind Riva Villa is to create a calm, timeless and emotionally balanced residence where structure, light, material and nature work together. The inspiration comes from coastal calm, fluid movement and the soft curves of wind-shaped forms. This idea is translated into the sculptural ribbon staircase, the double-height indoor garden atrium and the warm timber envelope. The design follows a biophilic quiet luxury approach, aiming to create a home that feels breathable, tactile and refined rather than trend-driven.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
My main focus was to design a large-scale residence that feels calm, intimate and coherent despite its size. I wanted to create a strong spatial identity through the sculptural staircase and atrium, while maintaining comfort, acoustic softness and material warmth throughout the home. The aim was to achieve a refined living environment where public and private areas flow naturally, and where every material, lighting detail and sightline contributes to a quiet luxury atmosphere.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
My future plan is to use Riva Villa as an important reference for further residential projects that explore biophilic design, sculptural circulation and material-led interiors. The project opened valuable questions about how a residence can feel both iconic and calm. I would like to continue developing this approach in future private living spaces, especially through indoor garden elements, concealed lighting, natural materials and spatial compositions that support emotional comfort.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Riva Villa is a three level calm residence centered on a sculptural spiral staircase rising through a double height indoor garden atrium. The stair serves as both circulation and signature artwork while warm timber architecture ensures acoustic comfort and visual continuity. Natural materials act as structure not decoration timber defines rhythm stone volumes anchor key functions and subtle metal accents refine the palette.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Total area approximately 1000 square meters. 3 floors organized as a gradient from public to private
Key spatial elements
Double height living core with indoor atrium garden
Signature ribbon spiral staircase as the primary vertical connector
Kitchen dining anchored by a monolithic stone island and sculptural lighting
Private suites with soft acoustic textiles layered illumination and tactile wall relief surfaces
Material performance moisture resistant timber assemblies long life stone surfaces energy efficient LED strategy and low emission specification principles. - Tags
- quiet luxury interior, biophilic residence, sculptural staircase, ribbon spiral stair, double height atrium, indoor garden atrium, natural stone finishes, warm timber architecture, sustainable materials, gallery like home, luxury villa interior, Riva Istanbul villa
- Production Technology
- Executed with high craft and minimal visual noise, the ribbon stair is engineered on a CNC-cut substructure and finished with seamless joints for a single-surface read. Timber wall systems use sourced veneers on accessible subframes with acoustic backing. Stone elements are fabricated with vein matching, mitered corners, and shadow-gap detailing. Layered lighting combines concealed LEDs, micro downlights, and dimmable pendants, with low-VOC finishes for low glare and healthy indoor air.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenge was achieving iconic presence without visual noise a home that feels elevated and artful but never showy. Key difficulties included engineering a seamless ribbon stair with clean junctions and consistent curvature balancing the weight of stone monoliths with warm timber rhythm integrating the atrium planting without compromising maintenance lighting and humidity control and delivering a lighting system that remains discreet by day yet creates rich warm atmosphere at night.
- Research
- The project examines how a large scale residence can feel quiet breathable and materially honest through biophilic strategies centered on the atrium sustainable material selection focused on longevity and responsible sourcing and light as architecture using layered concealed sources to shape mood depth and comfort.
- Inspiration
- The project is inspired by coastal calm and fluid movement the ribbon geometry echoes shoreline curves and wind shaped forms while the atrium introduces a living seasonal dimension to the minimal palette. The overall approach follows biophilic quiet luxury softness tactility and breathable spatial composition that feels timeless rather than trend driven.
- Project Duration
- Riva Istanbul Turkiye designed in 2025
- Operation Flow
- Arrival frames the identity immediately drawing the visitor toward the stair and atrium where vertical movement becomes a slow curated experience rather than a functional transfer. Public life unfolds on the main level with living hosting and dining while upper floors transition into calm private suites. Sightlines are designed for controlled reveals art moments material transitions and the indoor tree acting as a living landmark that reorients users throughout the home.
- Team Members
- Dilek Karaman
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