Symbiotic Jag | Office of Feeling Architecture, Lda

Symbiotic Jag is located in the noble area of the city of Braga, whose morphology and topography are characterized by its peculiar character. The target lot of the intervention has a steep slope allowing a visual relationship of amplitude with the city in which the morphological structure of the subdivision based on a logic of "staircase" allowed an implantation in line with the client's intention. The project sought to establish a clear connection between the typology and topography of the lot and the desire to project the dwelling to the horizon in order to embrace the city. The building is born in an organic movement, starting from the lot's limit, supporting the terrace on which the ground level develops. The continuous movement traces all the built mass culminating in a projection releasing the housing from the land. This logic develops a prominent image in its urban context, with a strong imagery, working as a visual catalyst in the landscape where it belongs. The materiality seeks to accentuate this conceptual aspect by breaking the structure in two in a logic of positives and negatives, in which the structure of the house, as a positive, is executed in exposed white concrete in wooden formwork, seeking the relationship between the lightness transmitted by white and hardness associated with concrete as an apparent structure. On the other hand, the negatives are coated in copper, marking in a noble and exclamatory way the openings of the dwelling. This clarity of correspondence between form and materiality is sought after, avoiding the haphazard application of materials. From a functional point of view, the dwelling follows the fluidity of the structure, being a programmed consequence of it. The intersections and negatives generated define the spaces, which follow the topography of the terrain climbing them at different levels. The social area also develops in a pathway direction, which is hierarchized by different levels, always in a downward direction from the ground level. The intimate area develops in a typology of 2 suites, in a kind of mezzanine, where visual contact is promoted. The exterior arrangements seek to maintain as much natural áreal as possible, in which is developed an impermeable area, and a grassed area. The exterior paths will be executed in white travertine maintaining a homogeneous image with the remaining materiality.