The Hidden House project involves camouflaging a residence on a site that consists of a steep hillside that meets a lake. The site is remote, only accessible by boat, and contains natural vegetation. To blend this landscape with a building that acts as a remote vacation home, my project incorporates pocket gardens that act as a datum that overlays the site and at times punctures into the space of the house. While these pocket gardens attempt to connect the house with the site, they also create interesting spaces within the house, bringing nature and light in. Additionally, the green roof atop the house is purposefully level with the ground plane at the top of the site to further create ambiguity between the landscape and structure. The house cantilevers slightly over the water, where the house is entered from below and exited at the top roof garden. Moreover, because the house is exceptionally narrow (19feet), this vertical procession creates a stacked, “ant farm” organization. As the cantilevered structure is meant to relay that the house is simply a box stuck into the hillside, the pocket gardens, green roof, and vertical system demonstrate how that is not the case. In turn, the house appears as both a harsh rectangular structure that cuts into the hillside and also a building that is intertwined with the natural site on which it is located.
