House in S. Brás
The lot has a longed shape in a north-south direction, is completely surrounded by a low wall of hand-displaced dry joint stone and is inserted on a small valley near the municipal road.
It is a land whose beauty derives from a rocky soil and ochre earth in which small bushes, olive trees, almond trees, carob trees grow. Only from the highest ground of the land is the view to open itself in depth along the valley down to the distant horizon. From far away, the landscape dilutes in small hills, describing a beautiful "wavy" horizon. On the other side of the valley, a newly-built house in front gives the impression that we are, on this side, always being watched.
During our casual meetings with the owners we sensed their strong wish of having a large water reservoir, giving secondary importance to the residential areas: a sort of typological inversion.
Simple volumetric, just as its location on the land lot, is born naturally from these considerations. A white parallelepiped "enchased" on the hillside, under which the cars are parked and hidden, touches the land in a single point of support, the access to its interior. The volume is completely covered by water, but only a part of it is deep enough for someone to swim. Seen from above, there is only a watery mirror reflecting the tree-tops emerging around it, the outline of the hills and the horizon.
Seen from the valley, the only two openings in the perimeter of the volume, one of the central patio and another of the room to the south, anticipate a universe where the half-light, indirect light, and sometimes a skimming sunbeam prevail and enhance the mild atmosphere inside.
Around the house, the land remains intact, spontaneous, the trees and the loose stone walls, the landscape's dryness, characteristic of this region, enchanting us with an intense and particular beauty.
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