house in Águeda | nuno silva

Site Characterisation
The irregularly of the terrain, is developed along the “Rua das Roçadas”, in a longitudinal direction, from North to South. The terrain shows a pronounced slope, establishing two platforms (natural terrain).

Proposal
The house is inserted in a rural area which is characterised by a low-density housing area.
The terrain morphology conditioned the project regarding to its volume and program. Likewise, the implementation of the house was conditioned by the views.
Taking into account the altimetric and planimetric features of the terrain, including its pronounced slope, which starts at the street layout. For that reason, it is proposed a project that intends to re-characterize the terrain, and that establishes a platform for the house implementation. (elevation 86.50 ) .
For the access to the house, it is proposed two different acesses: one for the cars and another for the pedestrians, these being the link between the entry into the terrain and the entrance to the house.
The spatial distribution of the house is resumed to a radical separation by function per floor.
The service/social areas, are located at the entrance level, along with the hall, WC, office, kitchen, pantry, dining/living room and the stairs. At this floor it is proposed the creation of crannies areas for shade (at living/dining room) and for rain protection (outdoor lobby) .

At level 1, the most private area, is comprised of bedrooms areas and sanitary facilities. At this floor there are also crannies, but for exterior platforms (terraces) to support the bedrooms. These platforms create a private zone in terms of exposure.

The creation of such crannies (on both floors) also aimed to dissimulate the initial rectangular shape of the house.
Such function separation by floors, leads to a tiny relation with the terrain levels, i.e., the level 0 is connected to lower level of the terrain and the level 1 is connected with the higher level of the terrain.
It was sought on the project dissimulate the service areas, removing its visual importance. Thus, these areas are located at the back side of the house, being "buried" on the terrain.