Azra Veridian Floorplan & Interior Design

PROTOTYPE STUDIO TOUR 

The Founder's Story

Originally intended as the construction site office of a concrete build (being constructed in phases as Jamaicans tend to do), the Azra Veridian was designed by the founder, who lives in the studio and refines every detail through real-world use. The goal was the modern comforts of a 21st century working person's life, privacy, built-in hurricane protection without needing to run around last minute if off the island trying to find someone to board up windows (and having to pay them to do so!), and fast turnaround of a studio without cabinetry, concrete blocks, internal walls, expensive shapes, excessive digging, and other time- and labour-consuming finishes necessary to be able to stop spending on rent and AirBnB ASAP!  

The tradesmen wanted their "boss lady" to have a proper toilet to use on the construction site, so she said well if we are putting in a toilet, might as well drop a sink and a shower in there and call it a day - and so she designed a layout that would work for her and maximize use of every available space without increasing the size (because the goal was to not suddenly drop a ton of money into the unscheduled project) and without having the place jampacked with no clearance to turn around and move comfortably in there... plus as always, anything she designs, she believes even a disabled person should be able to use.  Because injury and disability can happen to any of us at any time, at any age, so our home should always be ready because the sudden financial expense of retrofits is not manageable when already under pressure from a build in progress or life in general!

Built to withstand even category 5 storms - proven by Hurricane Melissa!  

And there'll be even better refinement to come in the lessons learned from the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica in its recorded history and in consultation with a structural engineer.  As it is still a construction site office, the floor is dry-pour concrete, but your home would have a finished floor - this home still has to house bags of cement, construction tools and materials, and allow tradesmen in and out of the work area of the studio for the foreseeable future!  It multitasks very well by simply deflating the oversized airbed when it's time to work, and re-inflating when the work day is over (it has its own built-in pump so this is fast and effortless) and she's all cleaned up from her filtered shower!  (She also does not advise putting a California King airbed in the studio as she has - that's just what she already owned at the time and made the dimensions of the shelves work to fit it - if she was shopping for the studio instead of bringing what she already had, she definitely would have gone for a queen sized futon, or even a queen futon / double bunk bed combo to be able to host a visiting adult child overnight.)

Aggravations when renting long term or booking vacation rentals in Jamaica (that have become a thing of the past now that she has her own studio to enjoy!):

• Jamaican vacation rentals tend to micromanage the air conditioning to the point where the place is ALWAYS hot and uncomfortable every time you first walk in the door, and in some cases if you sit or lie still too long in a room - now her place is always cool, and because it's only 110V everywhere, and a studio, there's only one air conditioning unit to afford and the size of the studio - and lack of walls and turns - means there's no need to turn it off even when gone for weeks: even the on-grid bill is manageable as she travels back and forth often.

• Jamaican homes tend to be concrete ovens because the designs did not take into consideration the free flow of air and natural light central to a Mediterranean style home - this studio has windows directly opposite each other facing east and west so you can always open your windows (like Belle in Beauty & The Beast) and enjoy the rising or setting sun every day, not to mention enjoy the cross breeze flowing through the entire space.

• Jamaican homes, even new construction, tend to have steps galore everywhere inside and outside the home, a nightmare for older or disabled homeowners, visitors, and guests - this studio is accessible everywhere (assuming the land it is built on is made accessible, of course): you can wheel yourself in and around.

• Jamaican homes tend to not be laid out well at all in the interior design, because traditionally many who are building cash in phases "wing it" and just have the tradesmen build on the fly, and the colour schemes can be fun but they can also be jarring or only suitable for a quick vacation, not for relaxing and releasing stress at home - this studio is in the monochrome colour scheme typical of Mediterranean earth tones and the coldness of glass interruptions to the aesthetics does not exist, giving you a feeling even at the windows of a place that is one with nature and giving you a warm hug, with an easy flow from the work / dining zone to the living / sleeping zone to the "wet" zones of the kitchen and bathroom areas... even feng shui gets a nod in the design as when you stand in the kitchen area to cook, your back is never facing the door, and same for when you sit at the desk to work or dine - no one is entering the studio behind you (what is known as "the command position").

• Jamaican long term and vacation rentals tend to lack at least 2 of these 3 in the design: privacy, convenient security, and modernity (you may not have privacy in a hostel or a motel with thin walls, or may be private and secure but the security is 30 ancient padlocks with 60 old fashioned keys to keep track of getting in and out of the place, the gate, and even the garbage receptacle, which slows your movements to a crawl whenever transitioning from inside to outside or back in, or the place is not modern and not private if the host lives onsite in a place built in the middle of the last century and tends to be the reason "the walls have ears") - this studio provides all 3 without the delays and patience needed for concrete construction and large crews of tradesmen - you can stay lean, mean, and green and get on with enjoying other things about Jamaica (such as a nice event coming up) or to even live in Jamaica and see the rest of the world, not be stuck in limbo waiting on your concrete build to get done and unable to actually live your life in the meantime!

• Jamaican homes tend to not have enough electrical outlets! No such problem in this studio - intentionally designed with at least 2-3 outlets on every wall, plus custom openings to get to those outlets that are under fixtures so that there are no cords and trip hazards all over the place, and with the surge protector outlet extenders on nearly every outlet, zero need for extension cords to increase fire risk not to mention ruin the studio aesthetics.  

• Jamaica has a shortage of affordable, well-designed, conveniently located studio homes that aren't condos / strata apartments stacked on top of each other in the Kingston metro area - The overall impression of this studio is a very intentional design.  If you want or need bigger, this is not for you.  If you want or need BETTER or to have a "bird in the hand" while you wait on the build of that dream house "bird in the bush" to finish, welcome to the future of a comfortable life of efficiency in Jamaica!

What can Mediterranean Style Jamaica Limited do for you?

Here's what you can do for Mediterranean Style Jamaica Limited!

Studio Applications: User Stories

Azra Veridian provides an eco-friendly, aging in place (universal access) friendly, resilient studio home suited for a wide variety of applications: