Inside a Landscape Architect’s Home on Top of a Hill

I think 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 literal getaway place from his usual urban home in Metro Manila. And so we're at a place that's about a three hour drive from the city. And when he approached us he really wanted just a simple house, low maintenance but very relaxed and a very peaceful kind of atmosphere. I'm Bobby Gopiao, I'm the owner of this retreat house. Jason said everything was really adapted to whatever would come to us in terms of site condition and then so 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, you know, hilly terrain, majority of it is covered with vegetation and then 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, you know, it's easier to build and we felt that there could be more. So we kind of looked around, we walked the property and then 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 of the whole project. So that's why I requested 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 pedrochina on the floor of the main pavilion. The pedrochina, I've collected this for the past maybe 20 years. When we came here for 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. So in a way, we were allowing ourselves to get lost and 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, homeowners, 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 it, by listening to it.