A film about a house that keeps time in courtyards, light and sound.
The project
OrangeBox is an internationally award-winning project that explores the intersection of architecture and culture through music, space and sound.
It documents The House of Courtyards, a private villa in Dubai designed by Studio VDGA, a practice known for folding traditional Indian elements into contemporary minimalist architecture.
The approach
Rather than simply recording the structure, the film takes a cinematic approach to reveal how spatial design can evoke memory, identity and rhythm.
The villa’s courtyards, material textures and light transitions became the foundation for a visual narrative connecting heritage with modern living.
Light and sequence
The house is organised so that moving through it is a sequence of thresholds, shade to sun, enclosure to opening. We shot to that rhythm rather than against it, planning each day around the hours when a given courtyard actually reads.
Sound
Sound carries as much of the film as the image. The score and the recorded acoustics of the courtyards are what turn a set of rooms into a piece with tempo, and they are the reason the film plays as music rather than as a walkthrough.
Spatial design as memory, identity and rhythm.
Recognition
OrangeBox has screened at international architectural film festivals and been recognised in both architectural photography and film categories.
It continues to be shown across platforms dedicated to architecture, design and visual storytelling.
