Located on an impressively sloping site in Paço de Arcos, a neighborhood facing the sea in Lisbon, Portugal, the home sits nicely between two blues: the sky and sea. The House at Paço de Arcos by Jorge Mealha, unfolds a setting where solids and voids are in display for each other. The arrangement and span of the masses allows for interesting in-between spaces that not only allows light to penetrate the core of the development but also allows reflection as water and shadows bend the surfaces and maximizes its adjacencies. These reflections allows for a dramatic play and change of light throughout the day and give texture to the endless cement plaster walls that dress this house.

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.

Photos: Jorge Mealha