I think the main the main idea behind this house Is about sensitivity to Forces both seen and unseen And kind of allowing those forces to lead you In your decision making about the design of the house So my name is Jason Buensalido I'm the chief design ambassador of Buensalido + Architects We are the designers of Hill House So the client is a landscape architect. And he wanted an escape. He wanted a home that was A literal getaway place from his usual urban home in Metro Manila So we're at a place that's about a 3 hour drive from the city When he approached us he really wanted just a simple house Low maintenance, but very relaxed and very peaceful kind of atmosphere I'm Bobby Gopiao. I"m the owner of this retreat house
Jason said everything really adapted to Whatever would come to us in terms of site condition And then we just had to adapt to the features of the hill So the stairs, the path walks were all dictated by what was given to us by nature An opportunity presented itself wherein he was able to purchase this property It's composed of hilly terrain Majority of it is covered with vegetation The topography is a little bit steeper than usual One of the first times that we came here, we were actually supposed to put the house On the flattest area of the site because it's easier to build And we felt that there could be more So we looked around and walked the property and we saw a hill When we got to the top of the hill That's when everything was revealed to us The views here are spectacular So it was really about being Sensitive and hearing what nature is trying to tell you My landscaping is usually very, very natural I don't like very formal gardens I love to use a lot of ferns, a lot of palms. It was always very important for me for the landscape to be A highlight in the whole project So that's why I requested for Jason to have a lot of windows So the views can be seen from the inside My favorite - out of all of the spaces - is the main pavilion Which is where the living, dining, kitchen and the hobby loft is located And the reason for that is because This is the place where The whole family could potentially converge And connect and share meaningful experiences together and with each other The main feature of the house really is the Piedra China Of the flooring of the main pavilion The Piedra China, I collected this for the past maybe 20 years. When we came here the first time we didn't know where to go Because we were in an exploration mode In the sense that we were in the process of selecting the exact site To build a house on In a way we were allowing ourselves to get lost In every turn there would be moments of surprise And delight as nature absolutely offers Constantly and consistently And so that's the kind of experience that we wanted to replicate Basically the house would be a series of Maybe micro moments or Unforgettable experiences that if you put them all together create A coherent whole Designers, architects, home owners, builders, developers We have a tendency of wanting to take control Wanting to always be in control And in the process we End up forcing our will on a particular site, on a particular location But what we learned in this process of letting go And letting nature take control Is that sometimes it's much more balanced, much more peaceful If you simply take your cues From nature just by being sensitive To it, by hearing and by listening to it.
