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Hill House
Hill House
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Hill House
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Completed in
October 2004, the Hill House was designed under challenging conditions
generated by modern problems of building on a hillside. Located
in Pacific Palisades, California, while the site for the house offers panoramic
views from Rustic and Sullivan Canyons to Santa Monica Bay, the irregularly
shaped lot is situated on an uneven, downhill slope. With the
canonical Eames House nearby, the 3300 square foot Hill House provocatively
continues the Case Study House tradition of experimentation and reinvention of
Los Angeles lifestyles.
HILLSIDE
ZONING
Increasingly in Los Angeles, local hillside ordinances,
building codes, coastal regulations, and design review boards have imposed
restrictions on hillside construction, with the goal of preserving the profile
of the natural hillside terrain by limiting building heights, location and
massing. The Hill House sets a new precedent for hillside building by
liberating itself from these restraints – not through evasion – but by
strategically transforming these stringent criteria into a sculptural and
efficient design solution, that seamlessly engages with the surrounding site.
The massing of the Hill House subsequently results from
two economically driven development criteria: To maximize the
volume allowed by the zoning requirements; and to minimize contact with the
natural terrain. Recalling Hugh
Ferriss’s vision of a Manhattan skyline literally interpreting the zoning laws
as building form, the Hill House adopts the maximum zoning envelope as its
form. The initial envelope is
shaped from a combination of property setbacks in plan and hillside height
restrictions in section, and is further refined three-dimensionally according
to structural criteria.
PLANNING
Within the
building enclosure, individual programmatic components are assembled to fit
into the fixed envelope, much like a contortionist, artfully compressing the
mass of their body into unique configurations. By eroding all non-structural walls and partitions, the
program flows effortlessly between three levels stacked within the exterior
skin. An upper semi-private
loft space and a more secluded lower bedroom suite sandwich the central public
living and dining area. An open,
sculptural, steel and glass stair vertically stitches the three levels
together. The smooth polished interior skin is shaped and curved selectively to
accentuate the geometry of the house and to accommodate storage and mechanical
services.
APERTURES
The
aperture strategy results from a desire to both minimize the quantity for
privacy and efficiency in terms of environmental performance, and to maximize
size for views, ventilation and light.
With the relationship of the site and building to the street, the
conventional rear of the house in essence becomes its front with spectacular
views of the canyon and ocean to the north, east, and south. Large sliding glass doors in the living
area retract into concealed pockets, erasing boundaries between interior and
exterior. Where windows and doors
are recessed into the building volume, the exterior material membrane folds
into the house to form deep sills and thresholds respectively. The recessed windows of the private
rooms frame specific views to the exterior while limiting views into the
house. The placement of skylights
in both the flat and sloped roofs further blurs the conventional
differentiation between roof and wall.
Indirect light sources and unanticipated views from these openings
further enhance the three-dimensional quality of the space and form.
MATERIALS
To express the continuity of the building skin and
minimize the conventional distinctions between roof and wall planes, an
elastomeric, cementitious exterior coating material was used requiring no
control joints. The embedded
lavender color of the coating was sampled from the pigment of eucalyptus bark,
prevalent at the site, re-enforcing the house’s connection to the site from
which its form is derived. The
material’s iridescent quality results in dramatic color variations with
changing light conditions throughout the day. Similar to the monolithic exterior coating, the interior
materials are detailed to suggest spatial continuity. Materials in varying shades of white, including polished
Carrara marble, smooth Corian countertops, lacquered wood, and enameled steel
seamlessly meet throughout occasionally accented by darkly stained walnut
flooring and cabinets. A meadow of
various native California grasses forms a blanket covering the slope
surrounding the house. Highly
detailed succulent plants such as aloe and agaves accent the soft grasses and
reflect the crisp lines of the house.
STRUCTURE
The structural assembly is composed of concrete, steel, and
timber. The foundation, based upon
nine 35-foot deep reinforced concrete piles, is anchored into bedrock and tied
together by a network of grade beams.
Rising up from this foundation, inclined concrete walls project
orthogonally to the grade – instead of vertically – taking on the figure of
prevented fall. A braced steel
frame with timber infill framing emerges out of the concrete base to form the
circulation core and cantilevered overhang at the entry.
October 2004, the Hill House was designed under challenging conditions
generated by modern problems of building on a hillside. Located
in Pacific Palisades, California, while the site for the house offers panoramic
views from Rustic and Sullivan Canyons to Santa Monica Bay, the irregularly
shaped lot is situated on an uneven, downhill slope. With the
canonical Eames House nearby, the 3300 square foot Hill House provocatively
continues the Case Study House tradition of experimentation and reinvention of
Los Angeles lifestyles.
HILLSIDE
ZONING
Increasingly in Los Angeles, local hillside ordinances,
building codes, coastal regulations, and design review boards have imposed
restrictions on hillside construction, with the goal of preserving the profile
of the natural hillside terrain by limiting building heights, location and
massing. The Hill House sets a new precedent for hillside building by
liberating itself from these restraints – not through evasion – but by
strategically transforming these stringent criteria into a sculptural and
efficient design solution, that seamlessly engages with the surrounding site.
The massing of the Hill House subsequently results from
two economically driven development criteria: To maximize the
volume allowed by the zoning requirements; and to minimize contact with the
natural terrain. Recalling Hugh
Ferriss’s vision of a Manhattan skyline literally interpreting the zoning laws
as building form, the Hill House adopts the maximum zoning envelope as its
form. The initial envelope is
shaped from a combination of property setbacks in plan and hillside height
restrictions in section, and is further refined three-dimensionally according
to structural criteria.
PLANNING
Within the
building enclosure, individual programmatic components are assembled to fit
into the fixed envelope, much like a contortionist, artfully compressing the
mass of their body into unique configurations. By eroding all non-structural walls and partitions, the
program flows effortlessly between three levels stacked within the exterior
skin. An upper semi-private
loft space and a more secluded lower bedroom suite sandwich the central public
living and dining area. An open,
sculptural, steel and glass stair vertically stitches the three levels
together. The smooth polished interior skin is shaped and curved selectively to
accentuate the geometry of the house and to accommodate storage and mechanical
services.
APERTURES
The
aperture strategy results from a desire to both minimize the quantity for
privacy and efficiency in terms of environmental performance, and to maximize
size for views, ventilation and light.
With the relationship of the site and building to the street, the
conventional rear of the house in essence becomes its front with spectacular
views of the canyon and ocean to the north, east, and south. Large sliding glass doors in the living
area retract into concealed pockets, erasing boundaries between interior and
exterior. Where windows and doors
are recessed into the building volume, the exterior material membrane folds
into the house to form deep sills and thresholds respectively. The recessed windows of the private
rooms frame specific views to the exterior while limiting views into the
house. The placement of skylights
in both the flat and sloped roofs further blurs the conventional
differentiation between roof and wall.
Indirect light sources and unanticipated views from these openings
further enhance the three-dimensional quality of the space and form.
MATERIALS
To express the continuity of the building skin and
minimize the conventional distinctions between roof and wall planes, an
elastomeric, cementitious exterior coating material was used requiring no
control joints. The embedded
lavender color of the coating was sampled from the pigment of eucalyptus bark,
prevalent at the site, re-enforcing the house’s connection to the site from
which its form is derived. The
material’s iridescent quality results in dramatic color variations with
changing light conditions throughout the day. Similar to the monolithic exterior coating, the interior
materials are detailed to suggest spatial continuity. Materials in varying shades of white, including polished
Carrara marble, smooth Corian countertops, lacquered wood, and enameled steel
seamlessly meet throughout occasionally accented by darkly stained walnut
flooring and cabinets. A meadow of
various native California grasses forms a blanket covering the slope
surrounding the house. Highly
detailed succulent plants such as aloe and agaves accent the soft grasses and
reflect the crisp lines of the house.
STRUCTURE
The structural assembly is composed of concrete, steel, and
timber. The foundation, based upon
nine 35-foot deep reinforced concrete piles, is anchored into bedrock and tied
together by a network of grade beams.
Rising up from this foundation, inclined concrete walls project
orthogonally to the grade – instead of vertically – taking on the figure of
prevented fall. A braced steel
frame with timber infill framing emerges out of the concrete base to form the
circulation core and cantilevered overhang at the entry.
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