The mass and alignments of the house are predefined by the rules imposed on the allotment, a 15m x 9m 2-storey volume. The house has a current functional division with a lounge and a kitchen on the ground floor and bedrooms on the first floor. The two diagonally opposing corners are removed from the planned parallelepiped, creating two covered exterior spaces on the ground floor: One marks and protects the entrance to the house, the other creates a porch for the lounge and the kitchen. On the top floor, the same movement creates two balconies serving the bedrooms. This motion outlines the volume and gives prominence to the relationships between the living space and the outside. The house is an enclosed, introspective body, with fluid longitudinal spaces. In the absence of defined circulation areas, the slightly off-centred interior staircase defines the space organisation. The staggered breaks in the corners of the façade balance the entry of natural light into the space. The final appearance of the volume, a parallelepipedic body with cutout edges, results in an ambiguity between the opaque abstraction and the domestic scale of the object. The closeness of the plot to the beach suggested that the facings be contaminated by the colour of sand.
project:
house in francelos
location:
marginal de francelos,
plot 42, portugal
date:
2001 - 2005
building area:
277 m2
architecture:
nuno brandão costa
collaborators:
andré eduardo tavares,
marta reis,
pedro almeida
structural engineer:
josé carlos lino (newton)
hydraulic engineer:
josé rangel
electrical engineer:
raul serafim barros silva,
maria da luz santiago (rs)
mechanical engineer:
raul bessa (get)
photographs:
arménio teixeira