The Haven House is Inspired by old Lebanese churches and hideaways that were carved inside Rocky Mountains historically and were appropriated with time by their surrounding natural environment, these small grottos remained hidden for centuries enabling their users to live their cultures and beliefs as they saw fit without any external social pressures. The challenge was to create a hidden house with surreptitious experiences in continuous dialogue with nature at several scales and levels for three women as users.
These secret experiences would allow the creation of an imaginary world, blurring the limits between public and private without physical boundaries or judgement. Carved out in the rocky mountain and hidden between rocks and trees, a sloped 23 meters cantilevered roof shelters the main reception space. The roof acts as continuation of the mountain’s slope and disappears in its context. Three main planted courtyards act as natural breathing spaces for the main reception areas. These courtyards are formed by rocked boundaries from outside and are elevated to connect to the upper main garden that provides visibility on the nearby village, but remains hidden to the village through the protection of the sloped wooden roof.
The house creates an intense experience for the five senses in a short sequence of moments. Three hidden doors lead the way to the three secret sleeping spaces that open onto secret thematic gardens that allow for natural sunlight and a private relationship to the outside world. Aligning the main roof with the mountain’s slope and creating a deconstructed, rocky landscape mimicking the hardscape in a contemporary vision allows the three users to appropriate the mountain itself. Haven house is a revisited, contemporary vision of the gardens of eve.