Joe Serrins Studio

Hillside Villa

Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel

HILLSIDE VILLA

Joe Serrins Studio

ARCHITECTS
Joe Serrins Studio

LOCATION
Baabdat, Lebanon

CATEGORY
Houses

PHOTOGRAPHS
Vicky Mokbel

AREA
562.0 m2

PROJECT YEAR
2016

MANUFACTURERS
Keller, Victrocsa

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Joe Serrins, Jared Brownell

Text description provided by architect.

Twenty miles above Beirut, the village of Baaddat on Mount Lebanon serves as the dramatic site for this single family villa. The property is covered with pinenut trees clinging to the rocky slope which drops twenty meters at a 45-degree incline.

Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel

The architecture is a vehicle for traversing the steep slope and bringing the client in contact with the landscape.

Composed of a series of boxes, the building climbs four stories, digging into the hillside to create outdoor terraces at each floor. Multiple interior and exterior stairs wind through and around the house, linking the program with landscape and view.

Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel

Several double-height interior volumes reinforce visual links to the sloping hillside and highlight the movement of people through the house and around the property. Large picture windows frame mountain vistas and allow for moments of stillness.

The program is organized by floor: the lowest level is the garage, and level two includes a media room and three bedrooms.

The third level is the living area which has tall ceilings and the largest of the four terraces. The fourth level holds the master suite and a private terrace with a swimming pool tucked against the hillside.

Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel

The building is made of CMU and cast-in-place concrete which is typical for structures of this size in the region.

The exterior is clad in a rough-hewn grey stone interrupted by a volume of white plaster and several folding glass planes with operable doors.

Landscape terraces and property rubble walls are made with a rough-faced local rock. The interior finishes are composed of a limited palette of materials:

Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel

the same grey stone from the exterior is sliced and honed for floor and tile applications and cedar siding wraps the elevator and interior stair core top to bottom. The bedroom levels have end-grain oak floors and simple plaster walls.


Hillside Villa

© Vicky Mokbel

Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel
Hillside Villa
Hillside Villa
© Vicky Mokbel


Hillside Villa
West Elevation
Hillside Villa
East Elevation
Hillside Villa
South Elevation


Hillside Villa
Guardhouse Plan
Hillside Villa
Garage Plan
Hillside Villa
First Floor Plan
Hillside Villa
Second Floor Plan
Hillside Villa
Master Suite Plan
Hillside Villa
Roof Top Plan


Hillside Villa
Site Section
Hillside Villa
Cross Section

Joe Serrins Studio
T +1 212 6755220
Joe Serrins Studio
526 W 26th St #916, New York, NY 10001, United States