Project Name
Cabo de Vila House
Posted in
Residential
Location
Bitarães
Portugal
Architecture Practice
Spaceworkers Arquitectura/Design
Area (sqm)
340
Client
Private
Completed
2015
Detailed Information
Project NameCabo de Vila HousePosted inResidentialLocation
Bitarães
Portugal
Architecture PracticeSpaceworkers Arquitectura/DesignArea (sqm)340ClientPrivate
Completed2015

When a young couple hired Spaceworkers Arquitectura/Design to design their new home, they gave them a wish list expressing the direct desire that it not look like a "regular" house. Observing the finished product, it's safe to say that they certainly got what they requested. The home in question, Casa Cabo de Vila, in Paredes, Portugal, is idyllically situated in a pastoral, verdant field surrounded by bucolic trees and a view of the city in the distance.

And that’s where anything "regular" about this property ends.

The 340 square meter home itself is an organic construction of angles and fluid lines that has naturally become part of its backdrop. Viewed from above, the design team - led by principal architects, Henrique Marques and Rui Dinis - have created a building that looks like a cement square with concave sides, the center of which reveals a sunny courtyard. In fact, the building's exterior doesn't betray that this is a private home as at first glance it appears to be more akin to something rather more notable like a modern art museum or foundation. But a home it is, albeit one that offers a different take on domesticity.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Casa Cabo de Vila's monumental architecture offers a different take on domesticity.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

The main structure is comprised of two thick slabs of cement, sandwiching between them a glass and wood wall around its entire circumference. Modern and minimally organic, the home's interior is just as impressive, embracing the country's bright sunlight on all sides of the rooms thanks to the window walls on their one side and the open air courtyard on the other.

Perhaps what makes this building even more unique is the original way the designers conspired to separate the various rooms, both in the common as well as in the private areas. Therefore, instead of barricading walls to delineate the spaces from one another, an "organic geometry" of flowing shapes establishes "hierarchies" which both separate as well as allow for a visual contact between the various quarters.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

As far as landscaping goes, both for the central courtyard as well as for the surrounding grounds, "organic" was again the solution of choice with low shrubs and naturally occurring vegetation surrounding the home as well as the - uniquely lit - green swimming pool off to the side of the main house.

It will be interesting to see how this impressive home and its surroundings evolve within the next few years, when the patina of time and nature play their respective roles in further intertwining the home with the nature that surrounds it. With that said, one thing that will remain a constant: is that there will certainly be nothing "regular" for the owners to fear in this extraordinary evolution.  

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Floor plan © spaceworkers.

Floor plan © spaceworkers.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Photo by Fernando Guerra.

Fluid Angles: Casa Cabo de Vila by Spaceworkers Arquitectura/Design

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