John Pawson

Strategies for building on a sloped site fall into two main categories. The architect
may choose to cancel out the effect of the slope — through the construction of a podium, through excavation, or by setting the structure on stilts. This design for a family house in Germany adopts another, gentler strategy, following the fall of the land and allowing it to become a defining characteristic of the architecture. As a
result the house presents a single storey
to the street, but steps down to accommodate a second storey on the garden side. The glass-walled principal bedroom cantilevers out from the upper floor, into the canopy of the trees that grow thickly beyond the terrace wall.

Project Team
Simon Dance, Vishwa Kaushal

Photography
Todd Eberle