House Chão dos Meninos

Single-family house of joint authorship with Márcio de Campos | Architecture + Interior Design

Single-family house project collaboratively designed with Márcio de Campos | Architecture + Interior Design, situated in an area offering panoramic views of the Sintra mountains, Pena Palace, and the surrounding plains. The project aims to take advantage of this privileged environment.

The house includes 3 bedrooms within 2 floors above and 1 floor below ground level.  The project showcases an articulation between volumes and voids of different depths, bringing out a dichotomy between transparency and opacity, light and shadow. These volumes were arranged to integrate into the natural morphology of the terrain, taking advantage of the views and the outdoor areas,  where an overflow pool is located – an element that evokes a sense of continuity with the landscape. 

The exterior finishings used for the house combine two coverings – black charred timber cladding and exposed white concrete with formwork based on vertical slats – render it a singular whole, while, at the same time, integrating the house into the natural surrounding. The use of carbonized wood in the recessed parts creates an aesthetic that combines tradition with contemporaneity.

The ground floor spaces are articulated to take as much advantage as possible of the visual permeability, opening up to the surrounding landscape.

We opted for a green roof solution as it brings many benefits in terms of ecology, air quality, noise protection, and increased energy efficiency. The choice of construction systems and solar protection solutions together with the centralisation of hot water and energy production has resulted in a nearly zero-energy performance building – an important contribution to more resilient construction performance of the building.

The project presents a contemporary house that takes advantage of the indirect natural light and views of the surrounding landscape.