Moments Villas, a four-home development in Nairobi’s Lavington suburb, has won Best Residential Interior Show Home Africa at the International Property Awards, an honor that recognized the project’s interiors specifically rather than its architecture or scale.
Developed by Canaan Developers Limited with interiors by Lehem Interiors, Moments Villas took the 2024 award after judges assessed how the homes translate wellness and connection to nature into everyday living space. The development sits on a single one-acre plot along Mzima Springs Road and comprises four homes of roughly 5,000 square feet each, a deliberately small footprint for a market that often favors density.
What Sets Moments Villas Apart
Every room in the development was designed as a destination rather than a passage. Visitors entering Moments Villas first encounter a glass-wrapped courtyard planted with bamboo, positioned deliberately between the front door and the main living areas so that arrival itself becomes part of the experience.
“The name Moments played a big part in our design philosophy,” said Ace Oreal, Chief Creative Director at Lehem Interiors, the firm behind the project’s interior work. “The house was envisioned to host special features in every space. All these experiences create unforgettable moments.”
That philosophy carries through the rest of the plan. The guest wing opens onto its own private garden. The master suite includes a screened balcony large enough for an outdoor massage table, built as a private wellness retreat rather than an add-on feature.
Designed From the Ground Up, Not Layered On
Lehem Interiors joined the project early, working the interior design into the architectural drawings rather than finishing the shell first and decorating later. That sequencing shaped how privacy, movement and daily routines function inside each home.
“The team at Canaan Developers made it clear they were looking for a house that supports how residents connect with each other and with everything around them,” Oreal said. “Our thinking with Moments was focused on what each space should feel like to walk into, and putting the villa together as a sum of those answers.”
Yohannes Kidane, Head of Business at Canaan Developers, said the decision to build only four homes on the one-acre plot was intentional, aimed at buyers who want to retreat after work while staying close to family and to nature. “What they wanted was space that does nothing but make the house better to live in,” he said.
A Split Kitchen and a Horizontal Layout
Moments Villas addresses a common friction point in open-plan luxury homes by splitting the kitchen in two. A display kitchen with an island bar and breakfast nook opens onto its own courtyard, built for entertaining. A separate working kitchen sits behind it, connected to the scullery, laundry and staff quarters, built for running the household. Guests gather in one; food preparation and domestic work happen in the other, out of view.
The villa’s proportions also depart from a common shorthand in Nairobi’s luxury market, where height and double volume entrances often signal value. Moments Villas emphasizes horizontal lines instead, using the facade’s vertical elements as contrast rather than the main statement.
“In this project, we wanted to emphasise the horizontal lines,” Oreal said. “That’s related to luxury. Luxurious houses are horizontal, not vertical.” The main living space, which spans two storeys and opens through full height sliding doors onto a garden terrace, keeps one deliberate vertical feature: a marble fireplace that rises the full height of the room.
Table: Moments Villas at a Glance
| Detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Developer | Canaan Developers Limited |
| Interior design | Lehem Interiors |
| Location | Mzima Springs Road, Lavington, Nairobi |
| Number of homes | 4 |
| Size per home | Approximately 5,000 square feet |
| Plot size | 1 acre |
| Award | Best Residential Interior Show Home Africa, International Property Awards 2024 |
A Different Measure of Luxury
The award places Moments Villas within a wider shift in how Nairobi’s high end housing market defines value. Khusoko has reported on the city’s prime residential segment expanding into areas including Lavington, with developers increasingly competing on design concept and lifestyle positioning rather than square footage alone. Moments Villas, with just four homes on a single acre, sits at the deliberate end of that shift.
Kidane said the ambition behind the project was never simply to build large. “We are looking beyond the dramatic size that any developer can build, into the extraordinary moments the villa can give throughout the day,” he said. “You get to enjoy light falling into the middle of the house at 11am, bamboo behind glass, a terrace door pushed open on a warm evening, and settled ways to enjoy your home.”
That focus on sequence over spectacle, the judges found, is what sets Moments Villas apart from developments that rely on scale alone to signal luxury.
