The implementation of the house in Oeiras responds to the adverse context, defined by the strong presence of a train line and by a set of uncharacteristic houses surrounding the lot.
The house develops around a courtyard through a path, from the common areas to South/East, to the most private spaces to the North. A path that includes two rooms with 5m high, a kitchen, a dining room and a library. At the Northern edge of the house is the most private area, the bedroom and the bathroom.
The inside courtyard is a space that convenes the atmosphere of the tradition of the Mediterranean patios, defining a place of intimacy, light and shadow. A space design with trees, surrounded by high walls of ochre in colour, where the presence of a water surface refreshes the space and adds a musical effect to the environment.
The central patio is the only autonomous space, where the physical limit is precise and delimited. The house is lived as a unique space without doors, where the limits of the different uses is defined by its height, light, shadow and relation with the open space.
The construction is elementary and refined, looking for a constructive and economic optimization: concrete structure; interior and external walls with a pigmented single mass material; floors in pigmented concrete; ceilings in concrete; window frames with fixed glass and metal doors; floor of the central courtyard in clay.
Images & text via EU Mies Award
Facts & Credits:
Name of work in original language: Casa de Oeiras
Placement: Shortlisted
Prize year: 2017
Location: Oeiras, Portugal
Year completed: 2015 (Year began 2014)
Studios: Pedro Domingos Arquitectos
Authors: Pedro Domingos (1967 Portugal)
Collaborators
Collaborator (office): Bruno Antão, Pedro Gonçalves, João Bagorro Structural engineering: Fernando Rodrigues Engineering: Mario Boucinha Hydraulic: João Guimarães Construction company: Manuel Mateus Frazão Landscape architect: Catarina Assis Pacheco
Photography: João Carmo Simões
Program: Single house
Labels: Isolated, Family
Total area: 700
Usable floor area: 250
Cost: 800
Client: António Sampaio da Nóvoa
Client Type: private
For the second consecutive term, Archisearch.gr had the great honor of being selected as an Independent Expert for the first evaluation stage of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2017.
READ ALSO: Summer House Under the Prickly Pears of Ios, Greece / gfra architecture