Totalling a plot area of 810 sqm, the plot is on the edge of a cliff which is a privileged spot overlooking the surroundings and offering wonderful views and an exceptional orientation. The House is located in Channiir, at 500 m altitude in the Mount Lebanon district. Villa CH730 can be found on a mountainside that falls towards the north, and the access street is located on the south at the top part of the slope. The building site is overgrown on a steeply inclined hillside with a wide prospect over the inclined valley of Chnaniir. Taking advantage of the 25 m slope towards the river, the incline played a pivotal role in the massing and shape of this villa.
The client wished for an affordable house which interacts with the countryside through its large windows. Based on the topography, the home is designed to be an architectural experience from beginning to end. The home is full of brilliant solutions and creative ideas for what often seems like an endless stream of problems and challenges - designing a house built into a hill. However, the views and unique architectural elements that are only possible to achieve with slope house designs are always worth the effort.
The Basic conceptual idea behind this project was to build a home with three main objectives: achieving a good adaptation in the overall streetscape, inserting the building into the topography of the original terrain and implanting the client program: the result, conserving the environment with a potential of altering different views.
DAZ regards each project as a unique opportunity to create tailor-made solutions and designs. The team’s thorough attention to detail, finishes and materials allows us to create harmonious projects. Thus, the idea of the house is based on placing a monolithic concrete structure on a black glass platform following the cliff overlooking the spectacular view of the 500 m hillsides between it and an old river. This parallelepiped module follows the direction and the angle of the cliff so that the house appears to be naturally incrusted into the hillside. The architectural design is kept basic in form, allowing the architecture to shine through its shape and façade details. Geometric forms and contemporary details translate the simplistic and monolithic overall of the design. The volume’s composition results from the rotation of upper part of the volume on an axis following the natural slope or topography, while the lower part maintain its horizontality especially towards the side of the slope. DAZ transformed a simple rectangular volume into a better and improved shape that answers all the site’s requirements and obstacles. Due to its mass, solidity and firmness, the monolithic volume is wrapped entirely with a monotone grey cladding and softened with the use of wood finished cladding. Windows of variety shapes and sizes puncture the façade throughout. Villa CH730 makes a grand statement on the exterior, but on the inside, the space focuses on privacy and the daily activities of the family.
The road and pedestrian traffic to the house is directly accessible from the upper road. The sloped house has four levels, but thanks to its steep site, approaching from the street, sits only two storeys above the ground while the rest of the residence cascades down the hill, forming a support to the parallelepiped module. The house has 567 SQM of modern living spaces and these spaces were distributed according to functionality and orientation, ensuring a flawless circulation. Our spaces are seamlessly connected across horizontal and vertical circulation across different levels.
Starting with the ground floor, the main entrance of the house, it consists of modern living rooms and a dining room, and the kitchen space. The client wanted to highlight the private/public phenomenon in the villa layouts. The first floor houses the master bedrooms and children’s bedrooms and another family living room. The first floor volume is designed to make shade to the floor below. The first basement is designed in a way to cater friends and family to fun activities with the TV room, entertainment room, a living room and a guest bedroom. The house ends with a second basement to which the family will have access to the infinity pool and outdoor terrace. The second basement houses the technically rooms, Showers and storage areas. Undoubtedly, the most attractive element of this sloped house is the concrete house deck formed to connect the house with the infinity pool. A stairway offers a suggestive route to the pool and is illuminated with Natural direct light. The elegance of the design of Villa CH730 lies within its volumes and internal spaces. A play of light and shadow is created between the parallelepiped module and the interior, the roof and the staircase, and between the porch-entrance and the roof offering a maximum of natural light.
