house in Aldeia do Juso

Lisbon architects ARX Portugal and Stefano Riva have completed a top-heavy house in the village of Aldeia de Juso with a concrete upper storey settled over the glazed walls below. In the concept for this small house, the tiniest area of flat land and the house’s, as well as the high density of the new houses yet to be built in the surroundings, forcibly draw us to some sort of “obsession” about the possibilities of dilating space. Underlying this question, the importance of “expanding” the outdoor space becomes a particular central aspect, since it is also a building integrated in a semi-rural area, where people go looking for the experience of inhabiting garden or open yard spaces.

The building has been thus structured in three floors, spatially related in profile, each level having specific and different characteristics. In Level -1, the areas are laid out (as the regulations so demand) under the contour of the ground level. In this floor there are also included work and service areas. On the ground level, the limits for the “precincts”, appears widened and defined by the walls around the lot. The inner space is freely configured. Consistent with the strategy of maximizing the presence of the gardened outdoor space, the garage is then left aside to an “inserted” area to the south of the kitchen. All the social spaces of the building are located on this floor. On the upper floor resides what is the most significant expression of this project. A kind of enclosure of opaque lines encompassing the bedrooms and their respective yards was shaped, thus expanding the enjoyable areas and protecting their necessary intimacy. On the roof level, an accessible terrace finally liberates the eye over a 360º view of the surrounding houses, the sea or the beautiful mountains of Sintra.