Portuguese architecture firm Filipe Saraiva Arquitectos has taken inspiration from the childlike idea of a house’s shape to design this family home in the farmlands of Ourém, Portugal. When we ask a child, anywhere in the world to draw a house, all of them invariably present us with a simplistic representation consisting of five lines, a rectangle and two squares. The pentagon composed by five lines represents the walls and the roof. The rectangle is meant to represent the door and the squares, the windows.
Regardless of the culture, the architectural references of each place, or the most common concept of accommodation from that place, it shows that all the houses have characteristics that are transversal to each one of us, because we all feel that the house is like a shelter that protects us from the world that surrounds us. It is our safe haven and our own world.
This archetype is usually defined by a polygon of regular geometric shape, generally well proportioned and with balanced dimensions, with which we all identify.
“The project consists of a house of me, for me and my family and intends to meet our functional needs, but also to satisfy a range of architectural requirements that are part of my formal and spatial imaginary, resulting from my individual and family experience,” explains Filipe Saraiva.
Filipe Saraiva‘s project was developed based on the modular composition principle, creating a proper rhythm in the façades and roofing. The constructive method adopted consists of prefabricated black concrete panels with a regular dimension, that defines the stereotomy of the project, since it is composed of repeated modules arranged sequentially. the use of black concrete as a material generates a smooth integration in harmony with the landscape, as well as reduce maintenance costs.
In formal terms, the house results in a simple and perfectly regular volume, almost monolithic, that lands on the ground, in the longitudinal direction of its inclination, in an intermediate point overlooking the street.
all images © Joao Morgado – Architecture Photography