SANTO ANTÓNIO II

Written by Omar Dahabra

Location: ila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Year: 2024
Architects: PURA ATELIER
Photography by: Francisco Ascensão

The project begins with a premise: to create a single family house with an harmonious relationship with nature and the surrounding landscape. Analyzing the sun exposure and the long and narrow plot, it was instantly clear to us that this house should be an extension of the inside space to the garden.

Thus, and in order to take advantage of the sun exposure, we designed a patio-house with an interior garden, which will provide more hours of natural light and also offer an intimate atmosphere for the interior space.

Another issue in this project had to do with providing privacy to the family. So, we designed a blind conceptual volume with cut corners which create covered outdoor areas with very specific openings. As a result, the building has almost a second and private facade, providing the interior rooms with an intimacy feeling and also a strong connection with the garden.

In what concerns the program and functional scheme, we wanted a very fluid circulation around the interior garden, providing at the same time, a different approach between the social area, with larger openings and a stronger connection with the outside, and the most private area where the bedrooms are.

The West side of the volume is the most functional part of the house. In this area, we have the entrance, the guest's bathroom, as well as the laundry room. This side of the house has the kitchen and pantry directly connected to the dining room, whereas the office room takes advantage of the fluidity of the space and faces the interior garden.

The east and the south sides of the house abide to a different approach, given it’s where the most private areas such as bedrooms and the master suite are located. So, for each room, we designed a private and covered outdoor area which will allow the user to have a quiet place where one can immerse oneself in nature.

The North side of the volume takes advantage of the solar exposure from the North, South and West. This part of the house benefits from a strong visual continuity from the interior to the entire garden and the pool and, therefore, it’s the ideal location to have the living and dining rooms. In other words, these areas are projected as a space in the middle of a continuous garden, as a space which articulates between the big garden of the house and the interior patio. Our intention is for one to feel that the outside is an extension of the interior space and that the house is in the heart of the natural environment. Text description by the architects.

Source: www.pura.com.pt
Built Area: 223,25 m2

Omar Dahabra
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