House in Alcanena
The initial sketches for the project resembled a near by Roman villa. As the project developed, the images gradually lost that link, leaving the essential: the physical elements making up the building.
The lie of the land had been marked out with rows of vines, parallel lines cut by a nearly orthogonal system of tracks.
Almost in the middle was a rise, and nearly of the top of it, the building.
The house did not look like a single unit, but was spread out in three sections - bedrooms, living rooms and services quarters - around a central patio a U shaped gallery served to link them together.
The reference axes for the project - also orthogonal - did not impose themselves on the land's compositional lines. Centring on the middle of the patio, they turn almost through 45o, living better with the landscape.
When the work had begun, a water tower which was not needed was demolished; a cellar was dug; and the iron window-frames were replaced with natural coloured aluminium ones.
Amid white walls, in stone and brick, mirror-glass was placed. Amid white walls, in stone and brick, the landscape swept gently up in a symmetry.
Structural consultants: José Adriano Cardoso
Electrical consultants: Rodrigues Gomes
General contractor: José Fernandes Júnior
