Hasta La Ideas

Portuguese architect Miguel Marcelino has completed a rural family house with red concrete walls and three separate terraces.

Located in Benavente, near Lisbon, the building is named Three Courtyards House in reference to the three differently sized patios positioned at the north and south ends of the house. “This was the way I found to solve the problem of having the best oriented sun on the south side and the best views on the north side,” Miguel Marcelino told Dezeen.

The largest terrace is to the north and features a stepped surface with a sunken swimming pool. Meanwhile, the southern end features a courtyard with a cork oak tree, plus a smaller yard with high walls.

“One could be quiet at the large inner enclosed courtyard with the sun and the big cork oak,” said the architect. “And, in the vertical courtyard facing the framed view to the lake with the sun reflected on the outer wall, be embraced and protected by the house in a cold and harsh side like the north one,” he added.

The architect used fair-faced concrete for the walls and structure of the building, washed with an acid-based etching solution to add texture. ”This finishing, raw and earthy, was chosen because in such a landscape I thought that it would be better that this house had the feel like it would come out of the ground, more rooted and anchored to this place,” he said.

The house has two storeys, with a living room and kitchen on the ground floor and bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs.

We’ve featured a few Portuguese residences on Dezeen recently, including a concrete house in Moreira and a townhouse covered in plants in Lisbon.

See more stories about Portuguese houses »

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here’s some more information from Miguel Marcelino:

Three Courtyards House

The plot is located in the middle of a ìmontadoî landscape, being the best views to the north with a lake and the skyline punctuated by cork oak trees.

The house is organized in a compact volume of two floors, complemented by three courtyards all different in size and features.

A first large courtyard, enclosed, intimate, situates on the south side, embracing a big existing cork oak.

Next to the back entrance there is another smaller patio, for service.

The third courtyard works as a key element in the relationship between home and the north side.

It is a slim space with a large horizontal opening that frames the landscape and it has an atmosphere of a “inner space outdoors”, the light is soft, by reflection on the outer wall that receives direct sunlight.

This vertical courtyard communicates with a staircase that leads to an open terrace, the last element of the sequence of spaces, patios and atmospheres that go from more introspective and private to more open and outside.

Above: ground and first floor plans – click above to see larger image

Above: long section – click above to see larger image

The post Three Courtyards House
by Miguel Marcelino appeared first on Dezeen.

This narrow townhouse in Lisbon has bushy plants all over its body and a swimming pool on its roof.

Designed by Portuguese architects Luís Rebelo de Andrade, Tiago Rebelo de Andrade and Manuel Cachão Tojal, the three-storey house was designed as a vertical garden that includes 25 different Iberian and Mediterranean plant species.

“Different fragrances are spread throughout the floors,” the architects told Dezeen. “In the swimming pool you will have the flavour of saffron; in the bedroom, lavender; in the living-room, rosemary.”

“In the heart of a busy city, the vertical garden creates an unique link with nature and an unexpected atmosphere,” they added.

A single staircase spans one side of the house to connect all three floors and the roof terrace. The architects describe them as “an allusion to the famous stairs of Alfama,” in reference to the stepped streets in the oldest area of the city.

On the roof, the narrow pool stretches along the whole length of the terrace so that it can be used for swimming lengths.

Living and dining rooms are on the second floor, while bedrooms occupy the first floor and a garage and music room are on the ground floor.

Other buildings with green walls on Dezeen include a pharmacy and clinic in Japan and a furniture showroom in Brazil.

See all our stories about green walls »

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here’s a description from the architects:

House in Travessa do Patrocínio

From a small lot with its unique implantation, this project has raised early on a couple of challenges… and along with them, ideas emerged.

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image

The box housing deviates from the gable to create a vertical yard (glass box), with a straight ladder connecting all floors, an allusion to the famous stairs of Alfama, running between the all four floors walls and linking the various dimensions.

Above: first floor plan – click above larger image

This courtyard is the heart of the house, bringing light to the interior, enhancing the main entrance and creating a real exterior/interior relationship.

Above: second floor plan – click above for larger image

In terms of material, we chose to polish the rectangular form and give the block the face of a tree, making it one more element of the square, which resulted together with the existing tree and water fountain, in a triad.

Above: roof plan – click above for larger image

The program was set up almost automatically, the technical services and garage with direct access from the street, the first floor holding the private area of the house. The second floor is the social area, with a direct connection to the coverage, extending social into outdoors, being the view related to the social side and the private area to both square and Embassy, the setting of a typical Lisbon experience, which is a truly intimate relationship between quarters.

Therefore, this project is in fact a mini lung and an example of sustainability for the city of Lisbon, keeping the principles of a living typical habitat and a relationship with the outside, assuming a revitalizing urban role.

Above: section – click above for larger image 

Architects: Luís Rebelo de Andrade, Tiago Rebelo de Andrade & Manuel Cachão Tojal
Co-Workers: Madalena Rebelo de Andrade, Raquel Jorge, Carlos Ruas & Tiago Moniz
Location: Travessa do Patrocínio, Lisbon, Portugal
Project Year: 2008-2012
Project Area: 248 sqm
Client: BWA – Buildings With Art

Construction:
Construoeiras, Obras Públicas e Construção Civil SA
Supervision – RTCNC,Lda – Eng. Rui Taborda
Electrical, Communications and Safety – EppE – Eng. José Cardoso Water and Sewer – Carlos Nunes Baptista
AVAC – Prom & E, Lda – Eng. Luis Baião
Gardens – Adn-Garden Desing

The post House in Lisbon by Luís and Tiago Rebelo
de Andrade and Manuel Cachão Tojal appeared first on Dezeen.

Indoor and outdoor staircases lead from a roof terrace to a sunken courtyard at this house in Portugal by Lisbon studio [i]da Arquitectos.

Located in the town of Carcavelos, the three-storey house has a sheltered entrance on its side so that anyone arriving can also look down on the courtyard below.

Indoor staircases connect the ground floor with levels above and below, while outdoor stairs lead up from a first floor balcony to the large terrace on the roof.

A second balcony is recessed behind the bright white facade, diagonally above a glazed living room that projects towards the street.

The house is named Casa DJ after the initials of its occupants, rather than because a DJ has moved in.

See more houses in Portugal here, including the concrete residence we featured earlier today.

Photography is by Joao Morgado.

Here’s some more text sent by the photographer:

DJ House

A central patio divides the house into two parts and organizes the interior spaces: on the west side, an open horizontal space to the garden receives the dining room and the kitchen; on the east side, a vertical space, located at a lower level in relation to the public route to ensure domestic privacy, receives the living room.

Large apertures establish the contact between interior and exterior.

In the horizontal space the relationship is made by the continuity with the garden while in the vertical space is the blue sky that dominates the entire landscape.

The private areas, one suite and two bedrooms, are located in the upper level as well as the access to the roof terrace.

The simplicity of the facades contrasts with the complexity of the different spaces of the house.

The white wall surfaces and the gray shades of the floors give a unit character to the entire construction.

Architecture: [i]da Arquitectos – Ivan de Sousa + Inês Antunes
Location: Carcavelos, Portugal
Area: 283.81 sqm

Project date: 2009
Finished: 04.2012

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[i]da Arquitectos appeared first on Dezeen.