House in Aldeia de Juso
In the concept for this small house in the vicinity of Aldeia de Juso, the tiniest area of flat land and the house’s, as well as the high density of the new houses yet to be built in the surroundings, forcibly draw us to some sort of “obsession” about the possibilities of dilating space. Therefore, the importance of “expanding” the outdoor space, underlying this question, becomes a particular central aspect, since it is also a building integrated in a semi-rural area, where people go looking for the experience of inhabiting garden or open yard spaces.
Bearing in mind that by now the question of “limits” and “precincts” has become a common-place, they appear here as being of utmost relevance. We propose, after all, to solve and clarify the question, by widening to the maximum the inhabitable premises in their global scope, by stretching as far as possible the limits that may shape them, both in the vertical and horizontal referentials, in both interior and exterior.
The building has been thus structured in three floors, spatially related in profile, each level having specific and different characteristics.
In Level -1, the areas are laid out (as the regulations so demand) under the contour of level 0. However, this idea of “imposed limits” is to be questioned through the means of “distensions” and “advancements”, to be operated in the three possible directions (north, east and west), shaped as yards and pool. In this floor there will also be included work and service areas.
Level 0, the limits for the “precincts”, appears widened and defined by the walls around the lot. The inner space is freely configured. Consistent with the strategy of maximizing the presence of the gardened outdoor space, the garage is then left aside to an “inserted” area to the south of the kitchen, so that the garden surrounds all social areas. All the social spaces of the building are located on this floor.
On the upper floor resides what is the most significant expression of this project. Until the maximum limits allowed by the regulations, was shaped a kind of enclosure of opaque lines encompassing the bedrooms and their respective yards, thus dilating the enjoyable areas and protecting their necessary intimacy.
House in Juso
Credits
Address
Aldeia de Juso
Contractor
Ecobaloon Lda
Project
2008-2009
Construction
2009
Architecture
ARX PORTUGAL, Arquitectos Lda. c/ Stefano Riva
José Mateus
Nuno Mateus
Structural Engineering
Marco António Caixa
Sanitary Planning
António Paiva Fernandes
Mechanical Planning
Miguel Luz Marques
Landscape Architecture
Sara Amaro
Photography
ARX
Gross Construction Surface
170 m2
