Stacked

Perched on a sloping hill with a nine metre level difference across the site, this 5 bedroom family home in Amman is composed of several shifted and stacked volumes with distinct but interconnected programs that cradle the pool and external landscape. Semi-internal, semi-external courtyards are used to create privacy and separation on the ground floor between the formal guest entertainment spaces and the private family living spaces. A shaded outdoor dining area, lounge and bar is placed between an entertainment/fitness wing and the family living and kitchen volume. The landscape steps down from the house to an outdoor living area, then a pool with overflow edge, to a sloping lawn that culminates in a pond at the base of the site.

The house is placed at the top of the hill and orientated to maximise on expansive views over the valley beyond. Family living spaces and bedroom are placed on two wings that span above the shifted volumes below to shade the courtyards below. The volumes are differentiated through the use of varied cladding materials; the upper volumes express a horizontal banding and striation through textured local Amman stone – tying the contemporary architecture to its local context.