HOUSE IN HORTA DO VALE | Pedro Matos Gameiro Arquitecto

The summer house is located in Odeceixe, on a steep slope between two streets. It consists of two blocks, strategically placed to embrace the surrounding neighbourhood in a conciliatory gesture. The blocks are unaligned in accordance with the vocation of the place and the ancestral logic of occupation in this town. Like two revelation boxes, they form a zigzag on the outside, with two staircases linking three uncovered spaces on different levels. The lower one leads to the entrance hall and a visitor’s room, while the other on an intermediate level gives onto the living area (kitchen, sitting-room, main bedroom) and a fountain. The outside spaces are not mere scenery but a dynamic force that organises the whole, forming a continuous space that extends inside the compartments – hollows dug into the monolithic surfaces, marking familiar rites.