Nestled in the picturesque village of Dlebta, Zaklit Residence is a vacation family house that seamlessly embraces its context, with a lightness and spontaneity that  inscribes it naturally in the familiarity of the surrounding scenery.

Located on a sloping terrain, we started by establishing two levels of reference in the form of traditional Lebanese terraces omnipresent in Dlebta;  the arrival level meeting the access road to the site, and an upper level accommodating house, garden and pool.  The house proper is simply delineated by a floating green roof (supported on internal partitions and very thin steel columns) and an all glazed facade.

The stones constituting the bearing walls of the upper terrace continue through the house and the same basalt flooring is applied inside and outside. With rooms linearly laid out parallel to the view, the transparency of glass dematerializes the edge and further blurs the distinction between a  “house within a garden” or “garden within a house”. The basement level contains services and a playroom giving onto an open air glazed patio.

The green roof constitutes in fact a third plane of reference accessible to the residents as an additional terrace. The greenery is extended through a projecting steel and wiremesh pergola which shades the spaces below and also accommodates a box for a rolling shutter that shields the house during the absence of its inhabitants.

When approached from a higher vantage point, the house simply offers the glimpse of a meadow within the pine trees.