ALTO DA CASTELHANA HOUSE
Set in a development on a slope of Estoril, the terrain was the first challenge. With a steep slope from the entrance side from the street, the use of a first level would have to be partially buried. Taking advantage of this fact, secondary functions were placed on the floor -1, with the entrance and vertical accesses illuminated by the single span on this floor.
With a challenging program for the allowed building area, the volume of the house is born, in the upper two floors, from the implantation limits defined in the subdivision, rising in a parallelepiped. By assigning the functions to the compartments that were established in the floor plans, the openings, moments of exposure to the exterior, that were intended to be controlled, filtered, either by permeable barriers in wooden elements or enclosed in patios, were started. with a zenith opening, whose function will be to use the exterior space as an extension of the experience of the interior of the dwelling.
The spans seek to frame perspectives from the outside, plans of light of rigorous proportions that simultaneously capture the outer envelope and filter it.
On the middle floor, where the social areas of the house are concentrated, the relationship between the room and the garden is accentuated by the cut in the volume of the floor that allows a covered exterior space and widens the width of the south side of the street.
The source of housing, with a direct and privileged relationship with the outside, is the garden, with direct access through the kitchen and, on a higher level, taking advantage of the natural topography and the largest sun exposure, the pool, inserted in an area paved, with access also to the exterior of the kitchen and living room through a stairway hidden between retaining walls.
