The Mario Rocha house is situated in Valongo, Portugal and has been designed by architect Carlos Nuno Lacerda. The residence has been designed as a large volume, with the entry markedly assumed by a gap between volumes, and enhanced by a sculpture panel that follows the entire entry route the house shuts down the street contact and opens into the site through large glazed walls. A rigorous metric served as the basis for the house’s design and volumetric conception. The program was conceived according to functional requirements, and adjusted to the needs of the project, ensuring through the study of light, natural ventilation and circulation, a succession of different and adapted spaces with different uses.

Thus, the compartments were designed with height differences, gaps and openings of light, resulting in a multitude of volumes that relate differently. On the other hand, there was a particular concern about the limits dilution between interior/exterior in the room, kitchen and gym/spa. This was seen as an extension to the outside through large glazed surfaces, taking the maximum advantage of the site and simultaneously ensuring adequate privacy, achieved through the design of landscape architecture.

The house’s continuity and unity guarantee was a major factor in the choice of materials to be used. The playing role of the shadows on the facades, resulting from forward and indented volumetric ensures greater expression in the elevations design. A vertical wood structure provides the necessary shade, giving a rhythm to the whole East facade, and furthermore safeguarding the users privacy.

This solution results in a strong intervention marked by the materials combination and sober language. This combination reconciles the necessary aspects of modernity in the beginning of the century, and the formal assuredness and classical expression aesthetics, ensuring a continuous updating of the times. Via

Photos: Nelson Garrido