Three Courtyards House / Miguel Marcelino

Architects: Miguel Marcelino
Location: Benavente, Portugal
Architect In Charge: Miguel Marcelino
Site Area: 2,175 sqm
Year: 2009
Photographs: FG+SG

Collaboration: Pedro Dourado
Electrical Engineering: Orlando Sousa
Landscape Design: Ana Amaro
Gross Floor Area: 282 sqm
Gross Volume: 854 sqm
Building Footprint: 173 sqm

The plot  is located in the middle of a “montado” landscape, being the best views to the north with a lake and the skyline punctuated by cork oak trees.

The house is organized in a compact volume of two floors, complemented by three courtyards all different in size and features.

A first large courtyard, enclosed, intimate, situates on the south side, embracing a big existing cork oak. Next to the back entrance there is another smaller patio, for service.

The third courtyard works as a key element in the relationship between home and the north side – it’s a slim space with a large horizontal opening that frames the landscape – it has an atmosphere of a “inner space outdoors”, the light is soft, by reflection on the outer wall that receives direct sunlight.

This vertical courtyard communicates with a staircase that leads to an open terrace, the last element of the sequence of spaces, patios and atmospheres that go from more introspective and private to more open and outside.