HOUSE IN SILVES
This is a rehabilitation work on what was once a barn, located on a family farm, in a small valley in the region of Algarve known as barrocal, in the southern coast of Portugal. An area of orange groves and smooth releave which follows the course of the Arade river, between the heights of the Monchique mountain range, and the flat, low-lying areas of the coast.
This two-story agricultural building is located at the end of a long, single-story house, built at the beginning of the 20th century, located on a high point in the center of the property, which also contains cultivation areas, a threshing floor, wells and other small outbuildings.
Although it is in continuity with the rest of the house, this volume in which the intervention was carried out has a very distinct and contrasting language, markedly rural and functional, with the constructive characteristics specific to the region. Inside it housed three autonomous rooms, with no communication between them, and no natural light. The only openings in the façade were the ones for the doors - opaque, low and narrow - and access to the upper floor was via the external staircase.
The intervention united these three divisions, both vertically and horizontally, creating on the ground floor a small social area consisting of a living room, a dining area and a kitchenette, as well as a bedroom and a bathroom.
On the upper floor, a second bedroom was created, wide and tall, on a mezzanine above the living room, with the old exterior stair now also functioning as a small balcony, open to the valley landscape.
The mezzanine results from the partial demolition of the existing slab, and seeks to increase the natural light introduced by the new tall window, opened in the living room, solving together with the new glazed exterior doors, the problem of lighting in the different spaces.
On February 28, 1969, a strong earthquake particularly affected this region, causing the collapse of the upper part of the volume in which we intervened, which was entirely built in irregular stone. At the time, the reconstruction of the affected part was carried out using industrial pierced bricks, and the difference between the two masonry works was disguised by the plastering and whitewashing of the interior and exterior walls.
In the project it was decided to reveal this story, turning it into a constructive principle that organizes the intervention. On the ground floor the plaster was removed from the old walls, exposing the stone, and the new staircase and the new dividing wall, between the bedroom and the bathroom, were built in the old way, also in irregular stone masonry.
Thus, this group of white-painted stone walls forms a solid base for the house, which contrasts with the upper floor of smooth walls, made of plastered pierced bricks.
In the mezzanine area, this construction feature is equally exposed, revealing the difference in thickness between the two wall types. The alteration introduced to the exterior wall is also revealed here, by building the frame of the new tall window in a contemporary manner, in reinforced concrete, partially embedded in the stone masonry.
The floor covering was made with handmade terracotta tiles from nearby traditional clay sheds, and some details of traditional carpentry were reinterpreted on the doors and shutters, made of pine wood.
The exterior volume was clarified through the demolition of some volumes that had been added, and the detachment of the first step of the exterior stair, and new exterior shutters were introduced to protect the glazing. To date, the planned intervention for the adjacent outdoor area has not been carried out.
The clients, two doctors and an agronomist (and their children and grandchildren), were entering a new phase of their life, that of retirement, and it seems to us that they wanted to do here what they had always done, during their entire professional life: caring and healing, preserving, giving life and future. Always in the most warmest and humane way possible, for which we leave this mention and our thanks.
