The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Door, FacadeThe Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Windows, Brick, FacadeThe Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Door, Facade, WindowsThe Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - FacadeThe Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - More Images+ 17

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The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Door, Facade, Windows
Courtesy of Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

The Lifting house existed with voluptuous forms, corpulent walls and pillars with mass frames, bulging mouldings supporting the capstone of the entire house.  False chimneys crowned this monument for its ridiculous grandeur, its irrationality and its non-architecture.  Located in the middle of the lot, unprotected from Guincho’s sandy wind, it ignored sea views and those of the hills of Sintra.

The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Windows, Door, Brick, Facade
Courtesy of Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

The changes to this house constituted a different project process and with a growing degree of difficulty as time went by.  It was a curious operation.  It started with a lifting and ended with the reconstruction of the entire body.  The fate was removed and, as said house was obese, the flesh was cleaned and, when we reached the skeleton, the osteoporosis had taken hold of its structure.

The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Windows, Door, Facade, Chair
Courtesy of Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

Clinging to the ghost of the original structure and the projects already approved, the construction process reflects the situation’s complexity.

Ground Floor Plan

The L-deployment was maintained and the house gained strength with a new surrounding: a large wall in “cratered” grey concrete slabs, which protects three sides without cutting it off from the world.  Through said wall, we can take a close look at the lot’s subsequent areas and, farther on, the imposing mass of the hills of Sintra.  And theirs is the image from the house; especially at night, in which their web of lit emptiness features a surface of grand beauty.  One enters the house through it.  A large metal pipe transports us into geometrically well-defined areas, filled with light and with a stunning view over the dunes of Guincho.

The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos - Facade, Garden
Courtesy of Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

The existing annexes, two buildings for garage, storage and caretakers, of mandatory passage when arriving at the house, blur in with the green of the garden lined with plants, of a vertical garden.


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Cite: "The Lifting House / Guedes Cruz Arquitectos" 10 May 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/499160/the-lifting-house-guedes-cruz-arquitectos> ISSN 0719-8884

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