Second Story: Hill Home Ruins (Re)Built from Stone Scraps

While nearly the definition of an adorable regional half-ruin to a passerby, from a livability standpoint, essentially everything was wrong with the original worn-out, nearly-rubble house that sat on this lot.

Using elements of the existing retaining wall (largely left intact) and reusing stones, doors and window shutters from the former residence (partly demolished out of necessity), a quaint new cube by Alan Chu & Cristiano Kato was erected from the remnants of a clay-roofed, stone-walled caretaker’s home in Brazil.

Where the former dwelling was largely closed off and took no advantage of the view, a bright white box appears to establish two stories and peer back out on the valley below.

The front lower-level wall presents a private facade at street level, and wraps visitors to the entrance via the looping road and retaining wall that form a natural path and partial enclosure.

Throughout, tactically recycled materials tie the structure to history while naturally saving costs during the reconstruction and addition, but the views, well, those are entirely novel for the new owners.