Hillside House | TWO+

Hillside House is a residential design project located in rugged terrain in a forest area of Crimea. This building was built by the architectural bureau TWO+ as a wide-span living space that accommodates occupants comfortably, while taking care of the natural surroundings. This building structure stands on a set of steel stilts that support and keep it above the ground, so as not to interfere with the growth of all existing trees. The existence of this building also brings its inhabitants closer to nature.

The top of the house is flat, but in the center it bends and turns into a pitched roof, forming the glass for the skylights. The south wall of the building overlooks a pine forest and is made of panoramic glass, offering panoramic views of the entire river valley from all the rooms in the house. The balcony extends along the glass and is connected to the main terrace at the end of the house, access to the balcony and terrace is possible through the sliding aluminum system of the rooms.

As the name implies, the site is located in a steep area making it almost impossible for vehicles to pass through the site. During the construction period, most of the earthworks were done by hand. Coupled with the dense vegetation and steep relief, transporting individual structures to the site becomes more difficult. This means that the construction period can take up to one year as a tow truck with sufficient boom length is required to reach the desired point.

The main materials used in this building are thermalwood and aluminum composite panels, with retaining walls constructed using traditional rubble derived from local rocks. Old granite paving stones are used when covering driveways, and some of the pavers are made with brushed concrete. A small fragment in front of the terrace is planted with regular and ornamental grass, while the main area of the site has been preserved in its original form, which visually allows it to blur the boundaries of the site and adjacent forest.