Ghat House, a balcony facing the sea

The Ghat house sits on a 25-degree slope facing the Pacific Ocean. Its design, structure and interior organization are determined by the topography of the site and by the decision to create a continuous space on the slope.

Its cover is a inclined reinforced concrete slab parallel to the slope. On this roof a large living area with different levels is formed – part staircase, part terrace – of unusual proportions for a domestic program.

Under this oblique plane a continuous diagonal space in a succession of different levels and stairs where the most public programs of the house are arranged.

The monotony of free plan is redefined by the slopegenerating an interior topography with 11 levels and 7 stairs.

The cover is supported by 15 reinforced concrete columns of different shapes and sizes. Its irregular geometry has been determined considering structural stresses and spatial aspects.

Its heterogeneous shape manages to individualize each column and with it avoid repetitive grid reading and rigid of the plant.

Each column generates a particular point in space and the frames between them towards the landscape are always changing.

Four lighter volumes, covered in beech wood, interfere with the roof and the space below it. Three volumes contain the private areas of the house, the fourth and smaller, an access to the deck.

These volumes are arranged, below, to the side and on the deck, establishing different relationships between private and public areas.