Lousinha Arquitectos . photos: © Ivo Tavares Studio . + divisare
Two brothers wanted to build their houses in a single volume on a land where the family owned an old beach house.
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Due to the small size of the plot, the implantation spot results from the alignment proposed by the municipality: facade of Avenida da Bela Vista away 3 meters from the fence; alignment for existing buildings in Rua dos Faróis; patio north and west with 3 meters. Thus the implantation was conditioned to a square with 12 meters.
The volume is part of the idea of affirming a compact mass to which small parallelepipedic portions are subtracted to mark special events: entrances, porches and balconies. This will is only contradicted by the opening of punctual spans, aligned by the inner face of the walls, and always square. The two-water roof saw its ridge round 45º, thus coinciding with the diagonal of the building’s plan. This gesture responds to the formal need for characterization of the corner, while at the same time responding to the desire to dialogue with the surrounding environment. Thus it was possible to match the lower height of the construction volume with the extreme west and north where the existing constructions are only one storey. On the other hand, it rises to affirm the definition of the street corner formed by Rua dos Faróis and Avenida da Bela Vista, pointing towards the collective housing building at the east.
Because we were interested in the autonomy’s of the entrances, these are located in each one of the ways that delimit the corner and in opposite corners: in Street of the Faróis next to the extreme west and in the Avenue of the Bela Vista in the extreme north. In both the mass subtraction of the initial pure volume is clear, creating a small porch and masking the volume of the annex to the covered car park. Although each entrance has a matching car access and pedestrian access, they are separated by a wall member that will receive all the paraphernalia of boards, counters, mailbox, doorbell, video entry phone and house number. Gains scales a space that marks the arrival to each of the two dwellings, also allowing to park in the open, but within the parcel, a second car.
The program is simple and is organized for each of the houses on three floors. On the entrance level the toilet and kitchen are concealed in a volume lined with wood leaving the rest of the plant free to the common room while incorporating the stairs; on the raised floor, two small rooms, toilets and a suite. At the bottom of the roof, a space for informal use without a definite use.
The entire building is lined with thin plaster system over thermal insulation, for light-colored paint. The marking of the accesses will be affirmed in solid wood and the delimitation of the land will be executed with a wall in the limit of the admitted height.
In the porch guards, the option was to use tempered laminated glass. The exterior in circulation areas is a concrete floor. Inside, the palette of materials will also be restrained and austere: again the concrete floor, walls and ceilings plastered for tinned finish.
The wood will be used for the execution of cabinets and interior doors.
