This intervention was focused on a built complex, located in Tinalhas, Castelo Branco, that initially included the main building, a single-family house, and an annex support building.
Both buildings were extended. In the house, a new volume was attached to the existing one, what allowed an increase in the kitchen and living room areas. Its interior distribution was also altered, as were its façade and roof.
Project Name: Tinalhas House
Office Name: dbA. arquitectura
Office Website: www.dbaarquitectura.com
Firm Location: Rua Dr. António Trindade, 1, Lj.E, Castelo Branco
Completion Year: 2022
Gross Built Area (m2/ ft2): 525 m2
Project Location: Tinalhas (Castelo Branco)
Program / Use / Building Function: Housing
Lead Architects: Alexandra Belo/Vitor Mingacho
Photo Credits: dbA. arquitectura
The existing annex was enlarged, in order to accommodate a laundry room. A garage and storge building was also created, as well as a pool, which was placed near the Southeast façade of the main building, communicating with its common-use areas. Nevertheless, the pool was implemented at a lower level and substantially detached to the house.
Even though they were recently built, the buildings presented a traditional language, with a clay tile roof and wooden window frames, painted in two different colors. Therefore, in the extension and refurbishment, the goal was to obtain a balance between a more contemporary and minimal character, and a respect for the existing formal and visual logic, in a dialogue with the surrounding landscape.
Regarding the functional organization, there was the need to solve two main issues: the access to the upper level and the reorganization of the ground level. Concerning the first one, a staircase with a single flight was created, as well as a mezzanine, projecting itself over the living room.
With respect to the second one, the room distribution of the ground floor was replicated above, thus creating two suites, two rooms and a common-use bathroom. Below, in the ground level, one of the existing rooms was eliminated, which allowed the creation of a new suite.
Here, the kitchen and living room were also extended, and a great continuity in the interior space was sought. This operation is more legible from the outside, where there is a clear distinction, in terms of volume and color, between the new and the existing buildings. Even though the dimensions and proportions of the doors and windows in the extension replicate the language of the existing building, the logic, in terms of window frames, was simplified and refined.
Both the annex extension and the garage and storge building were deigned, so as to take a secondary role in the built complex. Consequently, regarding their location, their single floor volumes and their implementation on the site, a camouflage effect was achieved. A roof garden was set on the garage building, thus minimizing even more its impact on the complex.
Regarding the project’s materiality, the applied materials are in line with the building’s language, such as veined marble or a rectified ceramic tile that resembles natural stone, as well as with stucco walls, conjugated with wooden ceilings and floors, or terracotta floors. Therefore, there was an attempt to establish a harmonious articulation between both construction phases, in an attitude of coherence with regard to the preexistences.
