House in Cascais
When designing a house, the problem is to understand the identity of both the client and the place in order to invent an “alter ego”. Our capacity for repetition depends on our attitude at the “time” and on the personality of the “place”. I became interested in doors and windows, which I had felt inhibited about for 25 years.
An immense horizontal sea, the Atlantic, cannot be recorded: an ocean – always different, always the same – cannot be “caught”. We therefore opened up a neutral view, expanding the voids and designing with positives and negatives. The materials and colours are all different, all the same: grey. The grey tones vary gradually from outside to inside. The greys of Azulino de Cascais stone, the matt sheen of the aluminium and the sand-blasted stainless steel are all waiting for the setting sun to lift them out of their “grey” state.
Project: 1994
Construction: 2002
Client: Engº. Luís Carlos Valadas Fernandes
Collaborators: Nuno Graça Moura, Camilo Rebelo, José Carlos Mariano
Structural consultants: AFA - Adão da Fonseca & Associados
Electrical consultants: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados
Mechanical consultants: Rodrigues Gomes & Associados
General contractor: Promafer
