BIG Architects’ Hill House has a Garden on Top

<a href="http://inhabitat.com/bigs-angular-green-roofed-school-blends-into-the-environment/" target="_blank">Bjarke Ingles of BIG</a> is one of our favorite starchitects and is famous for his <a href="http://inhabitat.com/8-tallet-green-roofed-apartment-complex-opens-in-denmark/">large-scale projects with green roofs</a> -- but he's also quite talented at residential projects as evidenced by this green-roofed home he designed for Danish home builder <a href="http://www.m2.dk/" target="_blank">M2</a>. The <a href="http://www.big.dk/projects/m2/" target="_blank">M2 Hill House</a> was inspired by the outdoors, and Ingels sought to maximize the home's green space by placing it beneath a flourishing garden. The multi-purpose <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/category/green-roof" target="_blank">green roof</a> provides insulation, recreation, relaxation and water infiltration.

<a href="http://www.m2.dk/" target="_blank">M2 Homes</a> offers a range of residences designed by well-known architects at prices comparable to traditional houses.

They asked Bjarke Ingles to design a home and he was inspired by the garden because it is one of the features that many people enjoy most about their homes.

Bjarke pondered how best to incorporate the garden and decided to make it the most prominent feature of the home -- the roof.

The Hill House is not a house <em>with</em> a garden -- it is a <em>garden house</em> that <a href="http://inhabitat.com/prefab-friday-beautiful-green-roof-affordable-housing-uk/" target="_blank">sits underneath a green roof</a> covered in sedum plants, which are low maintenance and drought tolerant.

Placing the garden on top of the house also creates an interesting topography for play or leisure -- in wintry Denmark, it might even be possible to use it as a ski or sledding hill.

The front of the home has large floor-to-ceiling windows that face the patio and yard.

Under the green roof sits a simply-designed home with an open floor plan kitchen, living room, and dining room -- all of which face the side of the house with large glass windows, providing views out into the yard and to the south.

Three bedrooms, a utility room and bathrooms line the back wall of the house, which is covered with a wooden facade for protection from the wind. Each room in the back opens up onto the shared living spaces.

The sedum roof infiltrates water and insulates the interior from heat in the summer and cold in the winter.

The bedrooms and bathrooms all open into the central hub of the house, which is a large living space with high ceilings.

As with all M2 homes, the Hill House can be modified and customized by changing the floor plan, the materials, and adapting rooms to fit the needs of the family.

The green-roofed home incorporates grassy spaces within its design.

Outside, another green-roofed structure serves as a carport and storage area.