Set in gently terracing agricultural land the client’s vision for a new residential community takes its cues from the context; nine apartment buildings are laid out to follow the contours of the land and capitalise on views to the sea whilst preserving a sense of space and nature around them. The design aims to maximise lateral frontage for the apartments and to ensure that each building enjoys uninterrupted views past and over its neighbours. Evoking the fragments of ancient walls found on the site, exclusive use gardens on the lowest levels are framed with portals of local “mares” stone which provide some privacy from the units above and serve to root the buildings in their context. Together with flanks and rear cores composed of off-shutter concrete and an array of masonry fins, they serve visually both to break down the scale of the buildings and to hold in contrast thin, elegant horizontal lines of terraces on the front elevations.