Representing the Best Real Estate in Phuket

Just nineteen individually designed luxury villas will rise upon a stunning 27,5 acre site overlooking the unspoiled Naithon Beach on the north-west coast of Phuket.

Each villa is designed to integrate harmoniously with its individual topography allowing unrivalled views across the Andaman Sea, while ensuring total privacy.

Gary Fell, the world renowned principal of GFAB Architects, who is leaving his dramatic architectural signature upon resort and villa projects around south-east Asia, was the starting inspiration. He designed the iconic Samujana in Koh Samui and the Foreign correspondents’ club in Seam Reap, Cambodia as well as countless private villas in Bali.

He envisioned the Istana Villas cascade down the sloping site, at times anchored into the hillside, and at other times springing from it with audacious cantilevers. Each villa is designed to merge with the rain forest environment, becoming part of the site itself. Old trees and original vegetation are preserved as much as possible and integrated into the architecture. Vegetation and bodies of water are being used to add natural cooling to the abundant exterior living spaces. The result is a timeless design, rooted quite literally in the physical site.

Gary Fell himself says that with Istana Villas Phuket he planned to create villas that are sensitive to their surrounding environment. While each villa will have stunning views, there is abundant space to give a strong tropical jungle feeling to the interior of each property. The villas encourage outdoor living in harmony with the natural surroundings. Gary prefers to use local materials, often found on site, in order to give authenticity to the character of the homes. The designs respect the environment, but are strong, beautiful pieces of architecture whose character will hold value and interest in the future.

The Istana philosophy then is quite simple: to deliver a total Feeling of Opulence (FOO) in a fabulous location through exclusivity, quality, contemporary design and environmental harmony.

Here are some of the exceptional innovations incorporated into the Istana Phuket Villas to deliver a Feeling of Opulence:

- Low density planning with spectacular uninterrupted views of Naithon Beach, the ocean and forested hillsides.
- Landscaping integrated to the topography of each individual villa guaranteeing abundant space and privacy.
- Natural, ‘green’ land borders and discreet villa citing so that each villa is wrapped in environmental serenity.
- Villa planning so that subtle glimpses of the trees and swimming pools of other Istana ocean view villas is all that is ever seen.
- Passive and environmentally friendly cooling techniques, with abundant reflecting pools, garden terraces and breeze-inducing pavilions. All these features facilitate outdoor tropical living and reduce the energy needs significantly.
- The preservation of local trees and vegetation and the use of the finest building materials throughout.
- Spacious designs for each individual villa that allows guests, children and staff to occupy discreetly separate areas of each complex, ensuring total privacy.

The design makes optimum use of passive cooling techniques. The roofs are transformed into a series of garden terraces and reflecting pools, both helping to cool the spaces below them and reduce the energy needs. The villas, whilst being contemporary, share characteristics with their more traditional forebears, both from palace and vernacular traditions. A series of pavilions are surrounded by reflective ponds that lend serenity and help air movement through the property. Walls are lent a massive quality with stone finishing whilst a series of screens provide privacy and shade. These screens are derived from timber treatments found in traditional Thai houses.

When it came to the interior design and the selection of furnishings and fittings, the developers continued with the obsession with understanding the needs and desires of their future owners and the ultimate quality they would expect and deserve.

Here are some of the fabulous interior innovations incorporated:

- Sixteen-seat dinner tables and home cinemas
- Italian Poliform kitchens and wardrobes
- Lutron Home Information Systems to give total control of the interior environment and allow you to summon your staff from anywhere in the villa
- Huge back kitchen areas that can cater for social functions op to a hundred guests
- Home gymnasiums
- Fully fitted Antonio Lupi bathrooms
- Finely wrought stone and timber floors, Italian cabinetry and joinery
- Polished terrazzo wall surfaces
- Exquisite art works and only the best of contemporary furniture
- Southern Italian Travertine marble finishing
- Separate staff quarters
- Walk-in wine cellars in some of the villas