House in Melides

The project

A house of 1 200 m² with two of its three levels underground, and fifteen disciplines coordinated to execution design under one contract.

What we were responsible for

A house of 1 200 m² built, with one floor above ground and two below it, so that what reads from the approach as a low white volume among the pines holds five bedrooms, three studies, eight bathrooms, a games room, a private garage and six plant rooms. The estate’s own rule is what makes that possible: basement storage, plant and parking under 2,40 m of clear height do not count towards the buildable area, so the planning parameters see a fraction of what is actually built. Burying two thirds of the programme is what keeps the building low; it is also what makes the servicing hard, and the reason fifteen separate design disciplines were coordinated under one contract rather than tendered out. Architecture, structure, acoustics, thermal, plumbing, gas, HVAC, fire safety, electrical, telecoms, home automation, landscape, waste, safety and site coordination all carried through to execution design.

What this does not include

The construction is not ours. The house was built by a contractor appointed separately by the client; our commission is the design, from architecture through to execution design across the fifteen disciplines, and the coordination between them. The client, the plot and the estate it sits in are not named, and no image here places the house. The furniture and art shown are indicative of the design intent, not a specification. The images are renders: the house is on site and does not look like this yet.

Verified facts

Built area
1 200 m²
Clear height under which basement area stops counting
2,40 m — storage, plant and parking below it are excluded from the buildable area, so the planning parameters count a fraction of what is built
Levels
3 one above ground, two below
Bedrooms
5 including the principal suite
Studies
3 rooms
Bathrooms
8 for five bedrooms
Plant rooms
6 across the two lower levels
Disciplines coordinated under one contract
15 all to execution design

Images

A long pool in front of a low white house: the whole living side opens under a deep loggia, loungers along the stone deck, umbrella pines behind and bougainvillea over the end wall. — The one floor you see. Two more sit under it.

The house seen from higher ground through umbrella pines: a white two-part volume stepping with the slope, planted terraces of lavender and rockrose falling away in front of it. — The slope is what let two thirds of the house go underground.

The arrival side: a paved forecourt curving up to a plain white elevation with tall shuttered openings, a low retaining wall of planting to one side and pines closing the horizon. — From the road the house gives away almost nothing.

A narrow courtyard cut down between two white walls, a spiral stair in white metal descending into it, bougainvillea spilling over the parapet above and full-height glazing on both sides. — The courtyards are what bring daylight down to the buried floors.

Looking straight down the well of the spiral stair from the level above, the white balustrade coiling twice around a figure descending, bougainvillea against the wall alongside. — One stair serves all three levels.

The entrance hall: a black-framed double door standing open under a timber pergola, a pebble mosaic floor in a looping pattern, terracotta jars on either side and a chandelier beyond. — The pebble floor is laid, not tiled: it is one continuous drawing.

The kitchen: a fluted dark timber island against a green marble counter that returns up the wall, slim pendant lights in a row above and a dining table beyond under a pitched white ceiling. — Kitchen, dining and living share one pitched room.

A dressing room lined floor to ceiling in oak with a curved island in the middle carrying a stone top, herringbone parquet underfoot and a window at the far end. — The principal suite occupies its own end of the first level down.

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