House in Paço de Arcos

Located on an impressively sloping site in Paço de Arcos, a neighborhood of Lisbon facing the sea, this house proposes an arrangement of several solids trying to attenuate the overall mass due to a huge functional program requested by the client. A set of restrictive regulations, defined in the city council urbanistic project, from distances to borders, access and total amount of construction area and volume were also a condition to be addressed and surpassed. The resultant form proposes a dialogue between a range of different solids and voids, using light to draw or reflect on the surfaces, proposing a changeable reading of space and volumes during the day. The metal screening/shading devices, create large smooth textured surfaces on the facade of the house emphasizing forms and controlling the relationships between indoor and outdoor or between external and internal spaces. The house is all white and the roofs are flat. Some circulations, as the staircase and main corridor, are in white painted metal slightly detached from the walls, leaving opportunity for light to pass in between.