Faqra
RISD Exhibition
3.C.City, Chicago Biennial
Two villas share a dramatic, sloped site in the mountains of Lebanon, commanding views across a valley and out to the sea beyond. The vista is one of layers – ancient farming terraces, striated limestone bluffs, stepped rock outcroppings. The villas take these layers as a point of departure, stacking rectangular volumes in order to create a sequence of different relationships between architecture and landscape.
To maintain each family’s privacy, the villas’ backs face one another. Their volumes fan out in either direction, pivoting around central staircases to frame a different view on each level. Each villa opens onto a series of private terraced gardens, pools and grottos that cascade down the mountainside.
