Location
Coastal hillside
Year
2025
Client
Marta and Jon Ellery
Scope
Architecture, interiors, landscape
Duration
22 months
Site
Limestone ledge, 38 m above the sea
A house that steps back so the horizon can step in.
A home where the horizon becomes part of everyday life. Generous openings and tactile limestone draw the view into every room.
Set on a steep limestone slope, the residence is organised as a sequence of terraces that follow the contour. Deep overhangs temper the western sun, and every principal room opens toward the sea. Materials were chosen to weather with the site: local stone, lime render and oiled oak.
Aa
White arches framing the entrance stair
01
A stair seen through a cut in the limestone wall
02
The living room in soft daylight
03
From brief to building.
The question we were asked, how we answered it, and what changed once people moved in.
01
The challenge
A steep limestone ledge, a western sun that turns harsh by mid-afternoon, and a brief for a house that would feel calm rather than spectacular. The clients wanted the sea in every principal room without living inside a glass box.
02
Our approach
We followed the contour with three terraces and placed the living level on a single cantilevered plate. Deep overhangs, sliding oak screens and lime-rendered walls temper the light, while one honed limestone runs from the floors to the edge of the pool.
03
The outcome
The house sits low on the ridge and reads as part of the rock from the water. It needs a fraction of the cooling of a conventional glazed villa, and the clients describe the evenings as the best part of the day.
Cantilever over the lower terrace
Above the sea
Cooling demand versus a glazed reference
Drawn before it was built.
One line from the cliff to the sea. The section carries the whole idea: anchored on one side, released on the other.
Stone facade with deep-set windows
Four materials, nothing more.
A short palette, chosen to age well and to stay quiet next to the view.
Two lights, one house.
Drag to move from morning into evening. The same quiet lines, held by two kinds of light.
“They listened for months before drawing a line. The house feels like it was always meant to be there.”
Marta and Jon Ellery, clients
Architecture
ARCHEA
Interior design
Ines Albrecht
Structure
Nordic Engineering
Landscape
Atelier Verde
Builder
Kamen Construction
Photography
Studio Lumen
Next project
The Courtyard House
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