Povoença House
Povoença House is located in a residential area on the western side of Santa Luzia slope, between the hill and the sea, in Viana do Castelo.
The pre-existing volumetry and implantation were decisive for the development of the project. A concrete base embraces a central white volume, which extends to two floors plus an attic and is located in the same place as the pre-existing building.
The white volume and the concrete base interact in a play of volumes, creating different planes in a minimalist and abstract composition of the facade. From the street, the house is more enclosed, with each volume having only one opening to the outside, ensuring privacy in its relationship with the surroundings. To the south and west, the facade contains larger openings to the garden and the sea, allowing for the best exposure to sunlight.
The entrance to the house is at the intersection of volumes, marked by a yellow door within the concrete recess. The main areas of the house are located in the central volume: common areas, staircase, bedrooms on the upper floor and a multipurpose area with a mezzanine in the attic.
The south volume has a gabled roof and houses the living and office areas, while the longitudinal volume on the northern side adjacent to the neighbouring construction, contains the technical areas: garage, laundry, storage, and a small workshop. The house reflects the client’s needs, who communicated the programmatic, functional and chromatic preferences for their home so well.
Concrete was chosen as the base material of the house, with exposed concrete on the facades and concrete slabs on the sloped roof of the living area, to express the contemporary nature of the construction.
Outside, the garden is expected to grow wild and free, contrasting with the vegetable garden that is cultivated to meet the needs of the house residents, and together with the stone wall and the sea, these form all landscape planes that can be seen from the inside of the house and nearby areas. The exposed masonry wall was built with existing stone using a dry joint, so that animals can inhabit the gaps in-between.
As an extension from the interior, the common spaces extend to the Roman strip-paved area under the pergola, which will provide shade from wisteria and make the living area cooler. Time will intensify textures, colours and shadows of the spaces and the surroundings, in a continuous dialogue between the inside and outside, making the house more part of the site.
