Underground Grid House by FGMF
Designed in a rigorous structural grid, this rural modern home by FGMF contends with a variety of demanding contextual conditions and resolves them in a way that is internally elegant and connects the house (green-roofed and partly underground) with the surrounding natural environment.
The extension of green grass onto the roof ties the home into the adjacent hillside from which it seems to emerge. From the lookout at the top of the hill the house is almost completely camouflaged against the backdrop of trees, mountains and sky above.
The introduction of a regular structural grid with infilled rooms and exterior patio and deck spaces made it possible to bring nature into the house complex itself and to keep from disturbing critical parts of the site ecosystem that limit the buildable footprint.
The approach from the road most clearly reveals the rigid structural grid that permeates the entire project. This grid-based approach also makes it much easier to later add additional modules that could extend the current interior living, sleeping, eating and working spaces as needed in the future.
A lookout space on top of the hill serves as a semi-enclosed living space with views out on the surrounding area.
With rustic materials (wood and steel) this house seems to be the perfect eco-friendly hillside-and-underground home or retreat but nonetheless has rigorous geometries and modern interiors that make it fit for comfortable contemporary living.
“In an area of 53.24 hectares, only 65,000 square meters are not covered by the lush native intact forest that is permanently protected. In this area of accidented topography, where large stones are surrounded by Araucaria trees, a small valley was chosen, protected from the winds and close to the forest. This is where the natural walking paths cross: the site where people who arrive at the plot of land go to, access to the paths leading to the heart of the forest and to the top of the hill where one sees an impressive view.”
