DHP Architecture’s Tiny House With a Grand Connection to Nature

On a quiet coastal site in Berbara, Lebanon, where the terrain slopes gently toward the sea, DHP Architecture has shaped a home defined by precision. It reads almost like a simple sketch with its pitched roof, stone base and compact form set within a garden that remains largely untouched. Behind this simplicity is a design guided by proportion, openness, and the wishes of Kareen Nahas, a Trompe L'oeil and restoration artist who wanted to live closely with the landscape.

“The design went through many iterations. The size changed more than once, and the owner, an artist, kept rethinking what the house should be. After a period of exploration she finally expressed what mattered most to her: a home that allowed her to live outside,” says Nadine Harake, architect at DHP Architecture. This insight became the foundation of the brief. The house needed only what was necessary, and everything else was shaped around the outdoors.

With a footprint of 60 square metres, it is the smallest home the studio has designed. Founder Fadlallah Dagher explains that its scale works because of the way it is proportioned. “The volumes are extremely simple and based on golden ratio proportions,” he says. “The double height creates breathing space and the house opens completely to the garden and the trees.”

Inside, a tall living area occupies the heart of the plan. The bedroom is located on a mezzanine that sits lightly above the living area, maintaining openness while providing a sense of privacy. Full height glazing frames the oak canopy and the sea, while folding windows allow the boundary between house and garden to shift with the seasons. “As architects, our goal was to create a home that truly reflects the inhabitant, where the architecture allows her to spend her days in the garden and feel connected to nature,” says Fadlallah Dagher, Founder & Partner at DHP Architecture.

“It was important to us to keep the land as untouched as possible,” Nadine Harake tells SceneHome. “We preserved the native trees and worked with the existing garden to allow the house to open naturally onto its surroundings.”

Material choices anchor the project in its context. Fair faced concrete, locally sourced stone and a red pitched roof draw from familiar rural typologies in Lebanon. The interior adopts a restrained palette of wood, steel and exposed concrete.

The client’s connection to the land shaped more than the layout. She spends most of her time outdoors, tending to fruit trees and vegetables, and this guided the team’s approach to the site. The landscape was preserved, with native trees left intact and only minimal interventions added.

Although the programme is small, the space feels composed. Light moves through the interior throughout the day and the visual link to the garden provides continuity rather than constraint.

Dagher Hanna and Partners continues a long-standing interest in context and lived experience. Founded by Fadlallah Dagher and Fouad Hanna, the studio works across Lebanon and the region, producing architecture that favours clarity, proportion and material honesty. In this coastal house, that approach results in a compact retreat shaped closely around its inhabitant and the qualities of its site.