House in Serra do Louro / Cimbre

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Text description provided by the architects.Located in Serra do Louro, within the Arrábida Natural Park, this house is built at the highest point of the land, where a ruin in an advanced state of disrepair previously stood. This structure was demolished, and the stones from the old masonry walls were reused to build the boundary walls, integrating the intervention into the surrounding rural context.To meet the family’s needs, the social area occupies the center of the house, serving as a meeting point that separates the two more private zones. This spatial arrangement ensures a degree of independence for the master bedroom from the other two bedrooms.The tectonic character of the construction is emphasized by the choice of materials. The warmth of birch wood on the interior ceilings contrasts with the imposing presence of exposed concrete on the walls, which provides a coherent architectural language throughout the house. On the exterior, the concrete, natural zinc roofing, and aluminum cladding that protects the window frames ensure that the house will age naturally and require minimal maintenance.To take advantage of the solar orientation and the views over the protected landscape of the mountain range, the house opens predominantly to the south. The walls, 2.4 meters high, extend the interior spaces beyond the perimeter of the regular four-pitched roof that rests upon them, creating outdoor areas with varying levels of intimacy. This ensures privacy from the proximity of the street to the north and the adjacent land to the west, while also allowing natural light to enter through large glazed openings.