The house is sited on a large plot with a steep gradient, giving it a prominent position. It is located at the highest point on the plot, in order to offer a panoramic view over the landscape of the Ria de Aveiro to the south. The living space is organised inversely to the norm, with the bedrooms sunken into the slope of the land and the lounge in a cantilevered pavilion overhanging the entrance volume, where the study, kitchen and dining room are located. The diagonal shifting between the square box-shaped volumes fragments the mass, emphasising its vertical typology. The criterion behind the constructive textures and finishes and their structural stress was intended to lend them a sophistication of detail which seeks to enhance the idea of a (neo)plastic object detached from the nature that accommodates it. It is a device fitted to the landscape to take on its measures, variations, atmospheric nuances, while itself remaining crystallised in a non-gravitational balance.
project:
house in macinhata da seixa
location:
lugar da quinta do monte,
macinhata da seixa,
oliveira de azeméis,
portugal
date:
2005 - 2009
building area:
313 m2
architecture:
nuno brandão costa
collaborators:
andré eduardo tavares,
inês pimentel,
joana restivo
structural engineer:
ana isabel vale (abprojectos)
hydraulic engineer:
ana isabel vale (abprojectos)
electrical engineer:
maria da luz santiago
(rs associados)
mechanical engineer:
raul bessa (get)
photographs:
arménio teixeira