Some houses are made to be looked at, others to be lived in, others again to be walked on.
Once a farmhouse, tucked into rural Algarve (Southern Portugal) and surrounded by the luscious vegetation of a natural reserve, is now a conceptual space tuned in with the land topography and flooded with light and air.
Roof therapy should be the next trend, crossing spacial boundaries is liberating, empowering, and challenging.
This’s probably why the roof of Casa Vale do Margem is walkable.
The entire house is about movement.
Stepping from one room to another is an escalation of geometrical perfection, the additional wing gave sinuosity to the structure and a long external retaining wall marked the transition between the land and the building.
Large glazed sliding elements connect the fluid open-plan interior with the contrastingly rugged external areas and natural locally sourced materials have been used to build the retaining wall and the floors.
The priority of the studio intervention was to harmoniously integrate the building with the surrounding open countryside, a sea of almond trees under a cloudless sky, preserving the space and enhancing the blessed natural setup was the winning combination of this ambitious project.
