Building tall wooden birdhouses on stilts in a tropical forest in Bali

Architectural firm Alexis Dornier has built a group of three wooden houses

raised on stilts in a tropical forest in Bali, Indonesia.

Design Features

This 329 square meter complex called Birdhouses was designed for a group of friends

who wanted to build their dream of a floating village surrounded by a tropical jungle in the heart of Bali.

Design shape

The homes present a simple yet dominant character, separated by three panels that present a layered look.

While the upper floors are shaped monotonously, the lower floor is shaped on a single, tapered steel column.

The three adaptive structures contain a communal pool and sunbathing space designed through flexible forms such as walkways, waterways and flowerbeds.

Complex is divided into three main buildings: Main House, Guest House and Studio House.

The largest main building is located on a sloping site overlooking a small stream running through the property,

while the entrance to the site is surrounded by a studio and guest house.

Using trees as a canopy

Alexis Dornier built the structures to create an ensemble that complements

the existing foliage of the larger trees and has been preserved to provide external shading and privacy.

Trees have also become canopy for outdoor rest areas as part of a landscape design that resembles a miniature garden.

These birdhouses blend with nature, and their pivoting floor plans create expressive,

habitable sculptures that form intriguing relationships with the outdoors, while being highly present as unforgettable interpretations of the home motif.

According to the studio, the experience of exploring these structures is a journey through a three-dimensional,

maze-like arrangement of their different spaces, all radiating from their central vertical circulation elements to their surroundings.

The studio carefully designed openings to be able to give heterogeneous heights to each building.

All rooms are of different heights and their dimensions range from compact to spacious.

The studio also designs windows in different formats to open up views on the ground and in the sky.

The materiality of these habitable sculptures forms a group of solid volumes containing circulation and bathroom elements,

while the main spaces are ornate and their surfaces are clad in wood inside and out.

Soft, indirect, integrated lighting creates a warm, habitable space,

separated from the ground and glowing like a lantern in the midst of lush greenery.

Alexis Dornier

Dornier’s architectural projects seek to craft a design aesthetic that mediates elements of tropical modernity

and industrial architecture with a core ambition of formal and tectonic innovation.

This design aesthetic is achieved through an iterative design process and careful selection of locally available natural materials,

which are spatially configured to respond to the site and the natural setting in which they are placed.

The studio projects are designed within the tropical hills and forests of Ubud, the cultural center of Bali.

The practice of architecture in the tropics, especially in a place like Bali,

inspires us on a daily basis and also reminds us to slow down and appreciate the importance of balance and well-being.

With a team of talented and dedicated designers, the studio strives to explore new styles,

shapes and structures while learning from the rich heritage and “knowing how” an integral part of local vernacular architecture.

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