The property has a rectangular shape confronting South with Rua Rocha Gonçalves, where the main entrance is. By designing the house with an “L” shape, we kept the space facing West free, maximizing the garden space and allowing to set there a swimming pool, which was one of the initial pre- requisites.
Project Name: House on Rua Rocha Gonçalves, Esposende
Office Name: Traço Alternativo Arquitectos Associados
Office Website: www.talternativo.com
Firm Location: Porto, Portugal
Completion Year: 2021
Gross Built Area (m2/ ft2): 204m²
Project Location: Esposende, Braga, Portugal
Program / Use / Building Function: Residential
Lead Architects: Nuno Campos
Photo Credits: FG+SG fotografia de arquitectura | architectural photography
The main spaces on the ground floor are connected to the garden and to the swimming pool through sliding glass doors.
On the upper floor, three bedrooms take advantage of the view over Cávado´s river.
Each bedroom is a small rectangular shaped volume coated in grey microcement, imitating concrete. The three volumes, built in light steel framing (LSF), lay delicately on the concrete top slab of the lower floor, creating relations but simultaneously creating tensions between the volumes.
The library, also on the upper floor, is designed to look suspended on the south side of the house, causing perplexity for its structural boldness and volumetry. Under this volume, LED lighting helps to create a scenic effect, highlighting the main entrance.
Opposite to the library volume, facing the kitchen, an unexpected triangular shape element creates a geometric contrast.
With its large glass doors and windows, the light invades the spaces, intentionally highlighting the contrasts created by the materials’ colors and textures.
On the inside we find sober lines, ceilings and walls being white, creating a contrast with the grey microcement of the interior flooring. The wooden staircase is the exception piece. It is carefully designed and organizes and articulates the space.
The house evokes an open space concept not only inside but between the inside and the outside. The strong inner- outer relationship conveys the feeling of being outside while we are inside, not only during the day but also at night: the lighting was also in this case carefully designed to reinforce this connection.
The rigorous study and the attention to the constructive details, conveys a feeling of harmony.
A house that inspires emotions and leaves no one indifferent.
