The view from this house over the city is extraordinary. The slope behind it, until recently, was a tangle of overgrown shrubs, and it washed a little further downhill every monsoon season.
We worked with a civil engineer to design three terraces held by reinforced walls, faced in natural stone so that they look as if they have always been there. Wide, shallow steps link the levels, and a network of stone-lined drains and sumps carries heavy rain safely away from the house.
The middle terrace became an outdoor dining deck facing the city lights. Deep-rooted shrubs and grasses on the banks between the terraces hold the soil in place and soften the stone.
