STEEP SLOPE HOUSE

The boo­me­rang-sha­ped plot falls 12 meters from north-west to south-east. Plan­ning regu­la­tions make lar­ge parts of the irre­gu­lar­ly sha­ped 1500 sqm site unbuil­dab­le. We were left with a steep area at the cent­re of the site.

The ambi­tion has been to, as simply and ratio­nal­ly as pos­sib­le, cre­a­te an archi­tectu­re that sub­verts the tric­ki­ness of the steep site into an advan­tage and a driving for­ce in the design. A two-sto­ry volu­me with entran­ces on each flo­or jut out from the slo­pe. At a 90-degree ang­le from that volu­me a lower, one-sto­ry volu­me housing a sau­na and a com­mon room is situ­a­ted in the lands­cape, its roof fun­c­tio­ning as a ter­ra­ce acces­sed from the upper flo­or. Toget­her the two volu­mes frame a pool and a sto­ne-clad pool deck. The lay­out mana­ges to cre­a­te mea­ning­ful out­do­or spa­ces as well as mini­mi­ze dark inte­ri­or spaces.

The upper flo­or of the main volu­me is divi­ded lengt­h­ways into two simi­lar­ly wide bands, one housing more pri­va­te fun­c­tions: bedrooms, bat­hrooms, walk-in-clo­set, the other, facing a bal­co­ny wrap­ping around the sout­hern and wes­tern faça­de, housing kit­chen, dining and livingroom. The flo­or gent­ly drops from the kit­chen to the livingroom cre­a­ting a distin­c­tion between the dif­fe­rent fun­c­tions and vary­ing ceiling heights. The ground flo­or houses furt­her bedrooms as well as washing faci­li­ti­es, a com­mon room, anot­her bat­hroom and a garage.

The south faça­de opens up towards the view and the sun through big even­ly spa­ced and sized sli­ding doors. The north faça­de faces the stre­et and has a more clo­sed appea­ran­ce. All faca­des are clad in black, burnt pine, so cal­led Shou Sugi Ban.