pedro domingos arquitectos

Description

The house is based on an exemplary programme. A retreat, a place to live, to think and to work that will house a library and a small collection of art. The implementation responded to the adverse context, defined by the strong presence of a train line and a set of uncharacteristic houses surrounding the lot.  

 

The building develops around a walled courtyard of 11.5 x 11.5 x 5.75 meters around which the various spaces are organised, with a path leading from the common areas to the south/east to the most private spaces to the north. The path includes two rooms with 5-meter-high ceilings, a kitchen, a dining room and a library. At the northern edge of the house is the most private area, the bedroom and bathroom. The walled courtyard functions as the centre of the house, a sheltered and protected outdoor room. This is a space that evokes the tradition of the Mediterranean patio, defining a place of intimacy, light and shadow. A clay ground covering is surrounded by high ochre walls, with a water surface adding an aesthetic focal point and sound effects to the ambience. The house is experienced as a unique space without doors, where the limits of the different uses are defined by varying heights, light, shadow and relations with the open space. The central patio is the only autonomous space where the physical limits are precise and delimited.