A summer "village" for three generations of an extended family, the project comprises communal facilities - separate structures for a living room, game room, and kitchen, and two swimming pools - and four individual houses within an expansive seaside landscape. Each of the four houses brings together a courtyard and a tower: horizontal living spaces are continuous with the landscape, and the vertical arrangement opens the bedrooms breezes and views of the sea. To minimize the visible footprint, three sides of each house are embedded in the earth; the double retaining walls provide insulation from humidity in the soil, and a service passage that draws cooler air is located between the double retaining walls; sea water is used to cool the houses through passive gravity. The location of stairs and bathrooms on the towers of each house protects the bedrooms against high summer heat.
Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture
