Villa Mornag — Vision

Located in the heart of the vineyards of Mornag, a region renowned for its wine culture, Villa Sélim is set within an open landscape shaped by land, cultivation, and distant horizons. Designed in 2001, this private residence is one of the earliest architectural projects developed by atelier dada in Tunisia.

The project adopts a deliberately simple and legible architectural language, structured around a direct relationship to the ground, climate, and domestic use. Volumes are arranged horizontally, following the site’s topography and engaging in dialogue with the vineyard rather than imposing upon it.

The composition is articulated through intermediate spaces characteristic of Mediterranean architecture: patios, terraces, shaded thresholds, and protected courtyards. These elements enable natural ventilation, a refined control of daylight, and a fluid continuity between interior and exterior spaces, well adapted to the climatic conditions of Mornag.

The plans reveal a clear and functional organization, centered on living spaces, conviviality, and a constant relationship with the surrounding landscape. The main façade, sober and rhythmically structured through arcades and carefully positioned openings, evokes a contemporary reinterpretation of vernacular archetypes, without resorting to superfluous ornamentation.

Villa Sélim reflects a founding approach of the atelier: an essential architecture, attentive to place, agricultural memory, and ways of living, where modernity emerges through a respectful dialogue with context rather than through formal expression.