House in Birre
Description
The design of the house reflects the very particular conditions of its program, both in terms of uses and the requested construction area. While the owners of the house establish a clear functional subdivision into two autonomous halves – residence / guest wing, the area they intend to build is much smaller than what is allowed for this lot.
Briefly, it can be said that it is a fragmented, somewhat rarefied house, placed in the center of a garden. Given the small size of the lot, this garden is reduced to the perimeter around the built volume, occasionally resuming its presence in the successive stone patios excavated in the volume of the house.
In this process or rarefaction, the inner “world“ of the house is discovered. It is manifested through a design where the idea of partial erosion of what could be the maximum construction volume allowed is present, by introducing a sequence of patios, partial reduction of the upper floor , due to the almost total separation of the ground floor into two halves (owners / guests), only joined by an almost completely dematerialized corridor. The patios of the house, which, while empty, separate the built volume into two halves, incorporate different atmospheres, and notions in the house: 1 – water patio; 2 – time patio; 3 – matter patio.
Datasheet
Birre, Cascais, Portugal
329 m2
ARX Portugal, Arquitectos lda.
José Mateus
Nuno Mateus
Stefano Riva
Structures
Marco Caixa
Hydraulics
António Fernandes
ITED and Electricity
Filipe Vicente
Contractor
Blocozero – Sociedade Construção, Lda
Photography
FG+SG
