Sited on a dramatic 34-degree slope facing a forest reserve, the Be-landa house was an exercise in ?befriending? rather than ?conquering? the terrain. The starting point was to establish the minimum amount of flat land required for the house to be functional. We drew a line for the retaining wall to include a flat area for parking the cars, an adjoining main entrance, and the kitchen at the street level. The retaining wall bisected the site acted as a datum for the master planning. All spaces required by our Clients were massed into three Pavilions with varying relationships to the datum wall; the 1st Pavilion is entirely ?on the ground? within the flat land area; the 2nd Pavilion is half on the ground, and half hanging over the slope on stilts; and finally the 3rd Pavilion is entirely hovering over the slope on pilotis, accessed via a glass-sheathed bridge.
© Lin Ho

Architects: 29 Design

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Lead Architects: Stephanie Maignan (Co-founder, 29 Design, Currently Senior Design Associate at B+H Architects), Amanda Teh (Co-founder, 29 Design)

Area: 8000.0 ft2

Project Year: 2014

Photographs: Lin Ho

C+S Engineer: Techsol Sdn Bhd

Main Contractor: Bestchase Engineering

Net Enclosed Floor Area: 6,500 sq. ft.

Budget: $ 2 million USD

© Lin Ho

Text description provided by the architects. Sited on a dramatic 34-degree slope facing a fo...