The house builds a
single level volume, in an abstract reading of a body laid on a gardened horizontal platform.
A plastic
character is
assumed for the proposal, moulding exterior and interior spaces. On the outside the building sets courtyards
and gardens. The inside spaces are grouped by categories, ranking the
house between intimate and social areas, between
service and serviced areas. Different
ceiling heights help to clarify the uses denoting the social and meeting
places. Each body faces different quadrants. Three distinctive exterior spaces are organized around the house's
functional distribution. The first sets the house's entrance courtyard, serving
the garage and main entrance. Others qualify different spaces, offering them
unique characteristics: confronting the
office, the living room, or defining the environment of the guest bedroom.
From the entrance courtyard one access centrally.
The design privileges continuity, mainly through social areas, offering wide and informal spaces. Living-room and kitchen are connected through a dining area and each one of these spaces searches for distinctive relations with the outside. The living room privileges the contact with west and gardens, whereas the kitchen seeks the service spaces at east. The bedrooms, at south, are fragmented in two bodies, letting the guest suite stand-out. A common hall distributes to the three family bedrooms facing a narrow courtyard. The north side of the building houses the service areas, connecting garage, laundry and a studio that extends in a mezzanine, offering a filtered western light.
Technical Data
Local | Aradas – Aveiro, Portugal
Project | 2005
Building | 2009 / 2010
Architecture | Ricardo Vieira de Melo
Project Team| Rui Rei, Ricardo Senos, Jorge Brito, Damião Santos, Nuno Marques
Engineering | Protega Lda
Contractor | Construções Faustino & Salvador Lda
Built area | 562 m2
Photo Credits | RVdM, FERNANDO GUERRA (FG+SG)