ACL House / Pitagoras Arquitectos
Architect: Pitagoras Arquitectos
Location: Guimaräes, Portugal
Principals: Fernando Seara de Sá, Raul Roque Figueiredo, Alexandre Coelho Lima, Manuel Vilhena Roque
Principal in Charge: Manuel Vilhena Roque
Collaborators: Cristina Lima & Francisco Oliveira
Promotor: Dr. Albano Coelho Lima
Project year: 2000-2004
Photographs: Leonardo Finotti
The program demanded a single-story construction and the need to assure the privacy of the home, in regards to future neighbouring constructions.
The sites morphology, the presence of a strong tree mass and the desired relation with the close surroundings, in particular with the existing garden and house, set forth the design process that became consolidated by the programs extension.
The house was organized around a patio, with a clearly private character that would function as an exterior extension of its interior space.
Functionally, the house is basically composed of two bodies, one orientated East/West incorporates the social areas, the other, embodying the private areas (bedrooms) is orientated North/South.
Under the rigid geometry of the L shaped roof plane, the main element in the characterization of the buildings image and guarantor of its built unity, surge the variety and specificity of forms and materials.
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- site plan
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- floor plan
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- elevation 01
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- elevation 02
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- section 01
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- section 02
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- section 03
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- details
i like the use of the materials
The plan is outstanding, with nods to courtyard architecture, Pierre Koenig, and the Case Study houses in general. The idea of emphasizing the horizontality of the composition with the repeating wooden fencing and shutters is good, but it is hard to tell about the execution in these photographs. Likewise, the effect of stacked planes is a good idea that seems to have been lost a little bit to a chunk of metal flashing sitting on top of the extending plan. That strikes me as a failure in planning. Again, with the materials palette the stucco seems awfully stark in comparison to the warmth of the rest of the materials.
All of this is pretty hard to say because the photos are horrendous. The main photo gives a nice impression going in and the rest of the photos are just snapshots, and terrible representations of this architecture.
Studios like this, that are growing and promoting themselves, especially by using blogs would be so well served by working with decent architectural photographers. It makes all of the difference in the world.
Terry Glenn Phipps
Nice house, well integrated with the surroundings. A bit “dry & cold” for my taste but this will change with people moving in. On the negative side:
1. It is disappointing that having so much space and light, bathrooms are so tiny and dark
2. The bedroom area has a hotel like character
3. The house works better if the kitchen and dining are together and entrance hall leads directly to the living area.
That’s good!
Strong influence of Craig Ellwood; CSH #16.
miss van de rohe
very nice, but i agree with Terry, the photos don’t do it justice at all!
3:15 PM Nov 15th
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5:06 PM Jan 6th
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