The reconstruction of the mansion from the 1930s, designed by architect Teixeira Lopes, is an exercise in restoring the original. The building, which had been altered in such a way as to detract from its character, displays great spatial and material quality. The changes introduced by the design, new bathrooms, remodelled services areas and kitchen, structural reinforcements and the introduction of infrastructure and passive insulation, have been planned so as not to formally disrupt the genesis of the architecture in place. A number of original materials, since altered, were restored, such as the wooden frames, the eaves in chestnut wood and other interior details with a view to keeping their ambiguous decorative timelessness. The exterior arrangements also served to enhance the reading of the original architectural design and its singularity, which had been lost over time due to arbitrary, indiscriminate changes.
At the far end of the plot, making use of the existing garage building, characterised by a thin, balanced barge board, there is a space for an interior swimming pool. From the garage barge board, a gradual movement is initiated to shape the façade of the new space. This is made in complete transparency and ends in an opaque volume to contain the swimming pool service area. On the outside, the succession of volumes, planes and glazing, which combine with the plot’s neighbouring buildings, acquires the anonymity and informality of a backyard outhouse. Inside, the space adopts a contrasting, austere solemnity, highlighted by the presence of water all over the space and the full transparency onto the exterior, reflecting the Mansion which retains its timeless monumentality as it rests on the garden.
project:
restoration of a mansion,
and garden pool
date:
2010 - 2015
architecture:
nuno brandão costa
collaborators:
joanna katherine guimarães,
rita leite
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:
andré cepeda,
arménio teixeira