Project: BE House
Architects: Spaceworkers
Location: Paredes, Portugal
Area: 8,611 sf
Photographs by: Fernando Guerra | FG + SG
BE House by Spaceworkers
The BE House is a contemporary family home located in Paredes, Portugal. It has been designed and constructed by Portuguese studio Spaceworkers whose recent works have been featured on our site in the shape of the Sambade House and Agrela House projects.
The structure appears to defy gravity with its image that seems to float over the landscape. It has been achieved by placing a megalithic mono-block on top of a volume encased with glass panels that make it appear transparent.
The idea of a vernacular architecture (forgotten) and how it seeks to form a clear speech between the landscape and programmatic needs is something that we always admire.
A very successful example of this discourse, are the structures to support agriculture (normally function barns / granary), which in a more or less random would punctuate the countryside, as blocks of ephemeral appearance that levitated on the ground.
It is precisely this idea of “gravitational lightness” that fascinates us and which is based the concept of this project.
Generally, the proposal presents a tripartition according to the vernacular elements, the base, with an image of a static and megalithic mono-block, which includes the service functions of the house.
The open area, identified with the more public housing programs, which explores the visual and physical relationships with the outside through the huge glass windows that transmit the idea of lightness and structural weakness sought with the concept, and finally the geometric block that seems to “gravitate”, where are the private spaces of the house.
The concept of tripartition is complemented with a choice of materials that seeks to exploit the apparent weakness of wood in contrast to the black stone block (base level) and the concrete block (upper level).
