The Tree-top Villas are a luxury residential complex on a steeply-sloped tropical beachfront site. The property is a lush virgin jungle ripe with mature trees. Normally, such coveted land is developed with large, single-storey houses. This would require extensive terracing and leveling of the site for driveways and expansive buildings, thereby destroying the landform and trees.
The architectural strategy treats the landform and trees as valuable assets, preserving and then providing access to them. Parking is compactly arranged near the site entry at the top of the slope, minimizing the need for retaining walls, re-grading, and paving. One enters the villas by footbridge high among the treetops.
The villas are made with simple local construction techniques and local non-toxic materials. For example, bamboo, locally grown and rapidly replenishable, is used for the architectural screens. These screens shade the east and west facades as well as the roof terraces from the sun, thus reducing solar heat gain and associated energy consumption. The small-footprint/low-impact buildings are strategically arranged to preserve trees, but also to provide ideal ocean views to the north where expansive windows are shaded from direct sunlight.
