Fábio Ferreira Neves @fdfneves . photos: © David Pereira
Aldeia do Meco is a village located in the south of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, in Portugal. Its proximity to the beaches led to a rapid change over the last four decades and this rural village embodied by low and traditional constructions was transformed into a seaside holiday destination. This change was reflected by out-of-scale buildings in the early 80s. Casa no Meco is a single-family house located right next to these buildings and its massive surroundings guided the new project.
The owner’s wishes were clear: to replace the original house where he grew up with a similar one, strategically placed to avoid direct exposure to those neighbors. The design proposal was a simple building with a pitched roof that follows the longitudinal shape of the lot and the village identity. Programmatically, the project is divided into two clear groups. On the east side are the supporting spaces – bathrooms, closets, circulation, and kitchen – and the facades are composed of small openings to ensure some privacy and better acoustic control from the access road. To the west side, the main spaces – living room, office, and bedrooms – gradually open out onto the garden through large windows which are covered with exterior wooden shutters.
The materials and construction solutions of the project are respectful of local tradition, highlighting strong assonance with the village’s original buildings through the whitewashed walls and the pitch of the tiled roof that harks back to well-known images of Mediterranean villages. On the floor inside, the handmade cement tiles emphasize the house’s rural character while in the bedrooms the warmth of the wooden floors exploits the natural light strategically, distinguishing what is private and what is common to everyday life. In between the street and the new house, a “stone line” is developed to unify the whole complex and to connect the parking area to a vertical technical volume. This small addition, which is a clear allusion to the original oven house, plays a complementary role in the whole complex and contains the outdoor kitchen with its barbecue, all the technical equipment, and garden storage.
It is through a contemporary approach of subtraction that the undesirable surroundings are contoured and the privileged sun exposure is optimized. The manipulation of the different ceiling heights gradually guarantees moments of tension according to the importance of each space. Casa no Meco is an example of how traditional Mediterranean architecture can be reformulated to accommodate contemporary lifestyles.
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A Casa no Meco é uma moradia unifamiliar localizada na Aldeia do Meco, uma pequena aldeia na costa atlântica portuguesa. Propõe-se um edifício simples com uma cobertura de duas águas que respeita a identidade da aldeia e a forma longitudinal do lote. Na fachada da rua a norte, as pequenas aberturas que compõem os enormes planos brancos garantem privacidade e protecção acústica. No interior, a casa abre-se gradualmente para o seu jardim voltado a sul, através de grandes janelas compostas por portadas exteriores em madeira. Os materiais e as soluções construtivas respeitam a tradição local e remetem para imagens bem conhecidas de aldeias mediterrânicas. É através de uma abordagem contemporânea de subtração que se contorna a envolvente indesejável e se aproveita a exposição solar privilegiada.
