This single family housing was developed within the limits outlined by the existing building, making use of the roof span, achieved by slight reducing the height of the ground floor and by changing the roof, thus creating sufficient height for this floor to be used for housing also.

The builidng is developed on two floors, with the following distribution:

The ground floor comprises the entrance hall of the dwelling, kitchen and pantry, living room, a bathroom, two bedrooms and an access to the upper floor. On this floor there is also a small garden that will be maintained and expanded through the demolition of the existing laundry which has now been transferred to the garage. On the upper floor, there is a small room, a bedroom and a bathroom.

This single family housing was developed within the limits outlined in the initial sketch. The daring volumetric composition is formed by an apparently closed volume that rests on a base and a plan that intercepts it. This volumetric arrangement is emphasized by the use of different materials: stone and wood, which respectively compose the upper volume/wall and the recessed lower floor.

This closure from the street is contradicted by the opening to the inner side of the lot. In terms of programmatic distribution, the space is divided between ancillary areas (basement), social areas (ground floor) and private areas (1st floor). The upper volume, with a single slopped roof, rises above the street emphasizing its dimension and creating a dynamic volumetric composition, with tension and, simultaneously, stability in the composition of its forms.

1. LOCALIZATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SITE 

The existing house is in a predominantly habitation area, next to the Thames River. It can be characterized as being an excellent zone, with good car access and public transportations. The parcel where the house is implanted has about 985m2. 

The existing construction is made of brick walls and wooden floors and roofs. It’s a characteristic construction with traditional materials.

2. THE SOLUTION

The main objective of the project is to restore the existing building and make a small extension to the rear garden, respecting the existing trees, and maintaining as much as possible the old house.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTRUCTION 

In this restoration we searched for continuity in the interior spaces and in the existing functional areas. The idea was to provide generous areas and to usufruct in the totality the qualities of the existing house. 

The project develops in all the floors, with the following distribution: Basement – a playroom, a home cinema room, toilets and stairs (to the garden and to ground floor); Ground floor – the entrance of the habitation, with a small hall and corridor, where is located the main stairs to access the superior floors, and we have the accesses for the library, a living room, sanitary installation and an entrance of service with a space for closets; 1^st floor – with a gallery with glass floor, is were is situated the private area of the habitation, with three bedrooms, having one of them a privative toilet and closet, and still a toilet for use of the other rooms; 2nd floor (attic) there are four bedrooms and two toilets. 

The facades were studied to keep the original look except in the rear where the new extension is with a modern language.

4. CONSTRUCTIVE OPTIONS 

In a general way, the exterior walls of the building will be kept, proceeding only to its physical recovery, towed and painted. 

The exterior wooden frames will be the same to the existing ones, and will be painted, keeping the original drawing. The interior doors and panels will be wooden and painted.

The interior separation walls will be in brick masonry and painted. The ceilings will plaster painted.

The sanitary installations and kitchen walls will be in washable material. 

In all project we had the concern to characterize the spaces in accordance with the necessities of the future owners, keeping the essential structure of the building, given its integration in an area of patrimonial interest.

Thought of as a large volume that is cut out and partitioned as a house, different spaces, scales, experiences and moments are proposed. The entrance, markedly created by a tear or opening between the volumes, provokes compression that is intensified by a sculpture that accompanies the entire length of the entrance.
Rigorous proportions were at the heart of the design and the decision of the volume for the house. The programme was distributed according to the functional demands, guaranteeing, through the study of light, natural ventilation and circulation, a sequence of interior spaces that are differentiated and adapted to different uses, moments, experiences and sensations. Moreover, there was a special concern with blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, so that the living rooms, the kitchen and the gym/spa are extended outwards through large glass windows.
The interplay of shadows on the façade, resulting from bringing bodies to the front or moving them to the back, provides a greater plastic richness in the design of the side elevations. A vertical wooden structure ensures the necessary shade, giving a rhythm to the entire east façade and safeguarding indoor privacy.a.

The lot was small, with the front facing south and not much depth. The area seemed small for the intended programme. All houses are surprises, all projects are uncertainties that are constructed. In the end, they are questions we would like to clarify.
There is no project without a client, without a site or without a programme. Here the trilogy was well known, which sometimes is of little help. The clients were friends, old friends, who we knew well. The site was a street in my own town and the programme, a relationship of spaces and uses that I knew. There was only one request, something simple, a space with movement, for life, for family, to house the ideal happiness.
It was a matter of designing a house for Fátima, Zé Carlos, Leonor, André and for all of us, friends who love to share with them the everyday life, our friendship, the ordinary days.
It seemed there was no secret or mystery, just an idea of celebration, a space for an ideal of life, more than a house, a place to permanently transform, a space of freedom, open to use, the experience, to Being!
Thus, we sought to design: a home of life, a sweet address, the portrait of its inhabitants.

Thought of as a large volume that is cut out and partitioned as a house, different spaces, scales, experiences and moments are proposed. The entrance, markedly created by a tear or opening between the volumes, provokes compression that is intensified by a sculpture that accompanies the entire length of the entrance.
Rigorous proportions were at the heart of the design and the decision of the volume for the house. The programme was distributed according to the functional demands, guaranteeing, through the study of light, natural ventilation and circulation, a sequence of interior spaces that are differentiated and adapted to different uses, moments, experiences and sensations. Moreover, there was a special concern with blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, so that the living rooms, the kitchen and the gym/spa are extended outwards through large glass windows.
The interplay of shadows on the façade, resulting from bringing bodies to the front or moving them to the back, provides a greater plastic richness in the design of the side elevations. A vertical wooden structure ensures the necessary shade, giving a rhythm to the entire east façade and safeguarding indoor privacy.a.

The intervention is based on a main longitudinal axis, defined by the circulation corridor, along which the rest of the programme is formed and distributed. From this axis, each function is assumed with its own distinctive language, transforming the house into an experimental set, where each function of the dwelling is hierarchised according to volumes with different forms, highlighting different heights and varying the materials.

This attitude results in an enormous clarity of functional distribution and a wealth of interior and exterior spaces, without monotony or anonymity. The house combines a more traditional language, used in the cloister and the porticoed corridor, with a more contemporary and innovative approach, where flat roofs, roofs with an inverted slope or in a vault are experienced, together with the large windows, in a coexistence that is complementary and current.

Despite the level of experimentation and the differentiation of volumetry and materiality, the building has been thought and designed as a whole that is evident as a result of a global conception in which the different parts dialogue among themselves to create a unified and homogeneous whole, where the crossings, connections and differentiations between the spaces create rich and diversified spatial and architectural situations.