The Cliff Top
Alila Uluwatu - Woha Architects
Richard Hassell of Singapore firm Woha Architects has taken an environmentally sensitive approach to this cliff front development of 25 villas on Bali’s southern peninsula.
“Rather than hacking deep into the rock, we spent a lot of time working out how to respond to the existing contours and still achieve views and privacy,” he explains. Hassell and the other members of the design team are not approaching the arid landscape as something to contend with, but are trying to create an ambience that celebrates it. “Natural rocks, farmer’s walls, existing trees… wildlife, bird life and native vegetation will be preserved and flourish… we are using the native Savannah plants that flourish without requiring much water.”
The villas themselves follow the Balinese ‘pavilions in a compound’ model, but traditional pitched roofs (which would have blocked views) were replaced with what Hassell describes as “…rocky terraces, much like the farmers’ fields… the roofs are treated as stepped landscape elements that transform the natural contours into a terraced geometry of rocks and vegetation.
” Moreover, the design uses a simple, low technology system – “we are creating a total environment using elements of the site and using local and sustainable materials…We think people are searching for this kind of authentic experience.
