Hillside Hideout

Gazing up from the base of its sloping site, Hillside Hideout’s detached garage appears to be the ground floor of a three-story volume. But driving up the road that climbs around the house, the separation between garage and house becomes clear. From the top of the hill, the site plays yet another trick of perspective, concealing the ground floor of the structure, lending it the appearance of a single-story home. Depending on how you look at it, in other words, the scale of Hillside Hideout transforms–which is fitting, given that this home was designed with versatility in mind. A steep one-way road is the only way to reach Hillside Hideout, which gazes out from atop a regional high point onto the Kansas River. The drive takes guests around what appears to be the front of the house and up to its opposite side, at the top of the hill. There, a boardwalk bridges the gap between the structure and the site’s slope, linking the upper road to the front porch.