House of Stillness

Making scale feel intimate

In a house of this size, intimacy has to be designed. The central question behind House of Stillness was how to create a generous forever home without allowing its scale to become distant or ceremonial. It needed to feel open, but never like a ballroom; impressive in proportion, yet warm enough to support everyday life.

The house was developed in close collaboration with the architect, who gave the building much of its spatial strength. Sloping walls and angled rooflines create an architectural presence that is felt throughout the interior. Rather than softening these gestures away, the design works with them, using material, acoustics and proportion to bring the large volumes back to a human scale.

The main living area is organised around a central fireplace. Its position divides the room without closing it, allowing the kitchen and living area to feel connected while still having their own sense of enclosure. The form is deliberately soft, avoiding the hardness that a large open-plan space can easily acquire. It becomes both anchor and threshold: a place around which movement, conversation and daily rituals naturally gather.

Acoustics were essential. The angled ceiling is finished with wooden slats on an acoustic backing, giving warmth to the space while reducing the echo that could otherwise make the room feel exposed. The result is a quieter, more tactile atmosphere that suits the scale of the architecture without overwhelming it.

The fireplace also carries the strongest material gesture in the house. Its lower block was carved by hand from solid natural stone, intentionally left rough and raw as a counterpoint to the clean architectural lines around it. That contrast gives the interior weight. It prevents the house from becoming too polished.

The technical systems follow the same quiet logic. Air cooling is supported by a ground heat-exchange system, where long underground pipes use the stable temperature of the earth to cool incoming air in summer and temper it in winter. Comfort is created by the building itself, not by visible machinery.

One of the most powerful moments is the view from the void down into the living room. From above, the house reveals its true balance: large volumes, softened by material; architecture, made intimate through detail.