Acquaduct | Hugo Meireles

Located on the periphery of a dense suburban area, it was requested a temporary residence, an hostel for agricultural tourism, tracing back to its initial function it can be found evidence of an agricultural past: an old house that dominates the hill, wells and water tanks, a water mine, that is still viable and an entire network of irrigation systems that shaped the territory. The project tried to bring new life to this elements trough the simplest of the elements: a wall. More precisely an aqueduct that, originated on the water mine, creates a new water mirror that then runs alongside the perimeter of the area, reconnecting the entire irrigation system until it arrives on the top of the hill where is located the old house. Such wall creates a separation between an internal courtyard from which develops all the social areas of living and dining, and the sleeping areas that, even though being inside it, open up to the view of the agricultural fields. New life comes not from a new architectural project with its own identity but by integrating new architectural elements into a existing character giving it a new character and growing in synergy with the surroundings.