Article source: Atelier d’Arquitectura Lopes da Costa
The building consists of two different volumetries adjoining each other. The first, in a parallelepiped form, is developed along two floors and provides the conventional program of a house.
On the ground floor are the social spaces, which open to the south, over the swimming pool and to the west over the garden.
Saint Sebastian Street is a singular artery in the urban History of Braga.
Its layout coincides with the Decumanus Maximus of the roman Braga, rising from west to east towards the Forum, and it’s the final leg of both the Via XX (connecting Astorga to Braga partially by sea) and the Via XVI (connecting Lisbon to Braga by land). In consequence, this is an area of high archeological sensitivity.
The rehabilitation of this villa calls for various dimensions of dreams, both in the enjoyment of the interior and in the contemplation of the panoramic horizon.
The contemporary language and materials, especially the volumes of white lacquered plates and large glass spans, clearly marked the enlargement, differentiated from the original house.
The house sits in a landscape of immense natural beauty, facing the sea and being aligned with many neighboring buildings.
The two key principles that defined the project were the importance of preserving the environment, based on ecological support – and, more specifically, protecting the dunes and the local vegetal species – as well as the need to ensure the inhabitants’ privacy.
Designed for a family of five, the D house hides its structural complexity through its volumetric simplicity. Large boxes placed on the highest part of the land organize the interior and outdoor space through their layout and orientation. That way, the house opens up to the outside through the spaces generated between them, while protecting its interior from what doesn’t matter. With a view over the city of Braga, the D house opens onto the landscape and faces south/west from the exterior and interior leisure areas. If, on one hand, the boxes placed horizontally establish a relationship with the surroundings, extending the interior spaces to the outside, on the other hand, the entrance is marked by one of these boxes placed vertically that calls us to its interior and at the same time articulates the two floors of the house.
Inserted in a subdivision located in Quinta da Portela, Coimbra, the land is situated in the middle of the hill. Developing a house in this location becomes a challenge due to the natural profile that the land develops.
As such, the project idea is not to land a volume that becomes a dwelling, but to design a volume that conveys the idea that it was carved in the “site” (thus creating the feeling of union with the place) at the same time as it provokes the sensation that it is the volume that holds the hill itself.
As a social institution with strong ties to the Catholic Church, it makes perfect sense for the “Santa Casa da Misericórdia” to add a new chapel and mortuary to the existing structure.
The new proposal, although a semi-private religious structure, is intended to be open to the general public, which construction commenced in 2008, and was only completed in 2021.
The project is located in one of the oldest streets in the Aveiro city, where the architectural richness of the old facades is a hallmark of the city. The project is based on the demolition of a degraded building and the construction of a multifamily housing and commercial building. As such, given the context of the place, one of the premises of the project is to maintain and rehabilitate the facade of the existing building, requalifying it and thus preserving its historical and architectural value in the arrangement of Dr. Lourenço Peixinho Avenue.
The complex was born from a project to recover and enhance the heritage of a vacant building with an extensive curtilage area. In this latter area, a single independent family housing unit was built, which we present here as Casa Prazeres 37.
One of the main concerns of the design was to develop a volume as an anonymous element, blending into its surroundings.
The project was developed from the moment we accepted the invitation made by the Câmara Municipal of Vagos, to remodel a deactivated primary school, reproduced throughout our country on a large scale in the 20th century, between 1941 and 1969, at the time of the ‘Estado Novo’. We converted it into a training center for the development and promotion of water sports, and we presented our best solution with a reduced budget for the project and work. New internal spaces were created to achieve the owner’s goals, the flooring in the old classrooms was maintained because it was made of high-quality solid pine wood.
Tags: Portugal, Praia da Vagueira Comments Off on NAUTICAL SPORTS DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION CENTER in Praia da Vagueira, Portugal by Rómulo Neto Arquitetos
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