Hill House

The plot is situated in the suburb of Dionisos at the foot of Pendeli Mountain. A beautiful pine forest and a fine carpet of Mediterranean shrubbery colored the site. Unfortunately, in the great fire of Athens 2008 the site and its surroundings were completely burnt and today the house looks quite naked without its context. The first thing we noticed was a natural clearing between the different clusters of trees. The articulated volume of the house reflects the character of that clearing and the lot. The house mimics the landscape and tries to camouflage itself by becoming the extrusion of that clearing: a hill.

By considering the building as a solid mass and incorporating the roof into the walls we minimize its resemblance to the archetype of the 'objecthouse'. Its monolithic and earthy character is emphasized by the use of rough brick as the sole material to clad the exterior surfaces. The inclination of the roof results from solar studies that aim to achieve maximum shading in the summer and sun exposure in the winter. The ceilings inside the house follow the inclinations of the roof and create unique experiences in every room. Single and double high spaces interchange to complement the total experience of the interior.

The house of 229,04 sq.m. is also designed to have a minimum energy footprint. A combination of systems that use solar energy for heating and an air to water heat pump for cooling have been used. The energy demands are reduced significantly by the continuous external insulation layer just underneath the façade bricks. The combination of that external layer of insulation and the fact that the bricks are placed on their short side required a complex and particular construction detail for attaching the bricks to the concrete structure without damaging the insulation.