The Hill House is a true example of integrating a house with the surrounding landscape. The house isn't built into the hill, as you might guess. Rather the existing hill (which was just a touch shorter than the current roof) was removed, the house built, and then the hill built up around it.
The rock walls of the house were intended to give the impression of natural rock formations rather than veneer, and some of the rocks weigh as much as 7 tons (moved with a 3/4 ton rental truck!)
The house soon after completion.
Front yard, with the front door underneath the "snout". Note
the easy access to the natural grass roof. Picnics on the roof are just
like visiting a park hilltop, but this also allows deer to get up there and
stomp around on the roof. Once, 6 cows were found grazing on the roof!
The rock wall is non-structural--there is one-foot-thick, reinforced concrete
behind it. The snout serves to visually connect the house with the yard,
but is also functional by removing large quantities of rainwater from the
roof. Hand-made redwood doors lead to the living room and the master
bedroom. The round bubble window allows morning sun to flood the shower in
the master bathroom.
Round windows provide a view from the kitchen onto the front garden. The
sweeping curve and lichen encrusted rocks make for a natural path around the
garden.
The house has a long south side that curves 90 degrees to the west.
Fiberglass panels under the windows front a passive-solar trombe wall for
heating the house. The overhang protects the south trombe wall from direct
sunlight in the summer, but allows direct sunlight to heat the wall in the
winter. Natural colors blend in with the surrounding
native plants.
The entrance to house presents just the rock wall and garage door.
Following a path to the right leads to the phenomenal front yard.
The back deck, affectionately known as the "bow pulpit", allows 300
degree views of the coast from near Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay, and of San
Francisco and most of the San Francisco Peninsula.