Project: Cork Oak House
Architects: Hugo Pereira Arquitetos
Location: Celorico de Basto, Portugal
Area: 3,552 sf
Year: 2020
Photographs by: Ivo Tavares Studio
The objective of the project was the construction of a single family house on a plot of extraordinary morphological characteristics, which remained almost intact and unchanged. The land, with approximately 12 thousand square meters, is located in an area of natural protection due to the existence of several cork oak trees, where the implantation of the house allowed the maintenance of all the existing trees.
The development of this project took into account the strong relationship with nature, making it an integral part of the house and a key element in the enhancement of interior spatiality. The natural environment and the panorama that is enjoyed were the decisive elements for its construction.
The lightness of this construction is accentuated by the details and environments related to each other, and the mixture of green of the various trees and shrubs, a constant presence in any space of the house.
The choice of construction elements was defined taking into account the visual impression caused and the framing in the surroundings. The outside of the house is all built in concrete with the traditional process using pine wood boards and with the stereotomy designed according to the scale of the surfaces and the whole set. The slope on the façades suggests the continuity of the land, disguising the house in the ground and in nature also by choosing the color, whose tonality allows to highlight the green of the surroundings.
The concrete walls remain inside the house contrasting with the glass walls that allow abundant natural light, from east to west, and the nature that abounds on the outside, whether as large trees or shrubs that flavor the environment and attract magnificent species of insects.
Inside the house, there are big and bright spaces, the kitchen opens into the dining and living room. On the perpendicular are the three suites and on the upper floor a wide and panoramic space. The floor is covered in black tiles, continuing the external patios, both on the roof and on the ground floor. The dark tint of the pavement contrasts with the wood of two key elements: the flowing, suspended furniture that runs through the kitchen, dining room and living room and whose asymmetry is similar to the house and the furniture in the corridor, also suspending, that starts a tone end and “tearing” the door to the master suite.
The existing pieces of furniture and the decorative elements were carefully chosen and framed in the architecture of the house.
The access to the house is by a Portuguese granite road that goes around the cork oak trees and ends into the asymmetrical flap of a great volumetry that gives grandellinence to the entrance of the house. The lighting was strategically placed in a less aggressive and artificial way.
The narrow pool, with salt and crystalline water, is a space of excellence for contemplating nature with the birds chirping as background noise.
-Project description and images provided by Ivo Tavares Studio
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