Location  Brih, Lebanon
Category  Residential
Accent DG  Architectural design
Lead Architect  Elie Abs
Project Consultant  Elie G. Haddad
Project Coordinator  Aline Fadous
Project Team  Jad Fenergi, Charbel Karam, Luana Mahfouz, Nada Noueihed, Petia Ratzov
Area  1350 sqm
Materials  Stone, paint
MEP Consultant  Wissam Tawil & Associates
Structural Consultant  Joseph Diab
Status  Completed
Client  Bou Ezzedine

Awards  Honorable Mention for "DNA Paris Design Awards" 2023 "Architecture - Housing" / Winner of the Identity Design Awards 2022 Residential Category / Nominated for the Archdaily 2018 Building of the Year Award / Nominated for Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Photographs  Arch. Jad Ghorayeb
Landscape Design  AccentDG, implemented by Exotica

IDENTITY DESIGN AWARDS - "Architecture - Residential" The Terraces by Accent Design Group 

ARCHDAILY - "The Terraces House, Brih / Accent Design Group"
ARCHIPENDIUM - "Brih Villa on ARCHIPENDIUM 2017"
DESIGNBOOM - "A horizontal family villa in the chouf mountains of Lebanon"
WORLD ARCHITECTURE NEWS - "Tumbling terraces"
ARCHELLO - "The terraces House"
FLOORNATURE - "The terraces, Lebanon "
HARMONIES- "The Terraces House, Brih"


The Terraces, Brih

The design for a single-family villa in the Chouf mountains in Lebanon, took its inspiration from the landscape and the territory. The villa is located in the small village of Brih, which witnessed destruction and desolation during the Lebanese war.

The concept evolved as a composition in two volumes, separate yet connected through the main entrance/lobby: on the frontal side, the public functions, and in the back the family areas contained in a two-storey structure. The resulting U-shape configuration encloses an outdoor space with a pool, almost like a private piazza, open to the landscape.

The approach to the villa is through a meandering road at the bottom of the hill, passing though the terraced olive groves, which follow the natural topography. The building accentuates this horizontal composition, as a terminal point, combining natural stone with a contrasting white stucco in its finishing.

The villa embeds itself discretely within the site through this sensitive arrangement of elements, deriving its minimalistic aesthetic from the typology of traditional forms, rendered in modern forms. It reinterprets the traditional typology by opening up to the landscape, while recreating a sequence of passages and patios reminiscent of traditional architecture. The house avoids contemporary fascination with ‘glamorous’ forms, or the reactionary imposition of ‘monumental’ mansions, focusing instead on the integration in the landscape, the context, and its history.