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Architects: Madeiguincho
- Area: 258 ft²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:João Carranca
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Lead Architect: Gonçalo Marrote
Text description provided by the architects. In the south of Portugal our client had the desire to build a shelter where she could dwell within the two centenary Pine Trees located in her back garden. Considering the Tree´s strong presence we decided it would be better not to touch them physically. As a by passer who watches in silence the protagonists of a scene but still participates in the plot, the Columba Tree House arises from the ground to complement this natural experience. This project aimed not only to respect the character of this amazing beings by positioning our new building in between them, but also praise them with different visual situations.
Balcony, Livingroom, Bathroom kitchen and Bedroom was what the client expected for her weekend shelter, by elevating the house´s main platform by 2.5m height we made it possible to create a covered ground floor that allows all types of use and extends the shadow in between the pine´s bases. From distance, the house has a peculiar aspect, a suspended rectangular volume made with Japanese Cedar bricks with a “crown” on its top made out of a metal sheet roof with a cork trapezoidal volume on top. Going up a set of stairs there is a suspended balcony with a beautiful view of the Pine Trees where stands also the main entrance of the house in a cork plate wall. Through the same path that the visitor walks up these steps, there is also a metal sheet slope that shows him his way out.
Once inside the house the first impression is a lack of natural light resulting from the house´s thin slat shutters, this choice was made to prevent the extremely hot summers and cold winters that prevail in the Alentejo region. Besides the balcony, in this plan we designed what we believe to be the minimum living structure: bathroom, a small living room, kitchen and wardrobes for tidying up. There are also some Japanese Cedar ladders that lead all the way up through a skylight that is actually an elevated bedroom.
The bedroom has a trapezoidal shape that reminds a cocoon from the inside and a crown from the outside. There is a big skylight which actually looks to the tree´s top revealing its magnitude, and also works as a lamp that lightens up the tree´s top at night. Beside the cocoon feeling that this room brings up, a side door allows its visitor to get outside in the house´s roof to be presented to a beautiful sight scene of the Alentejo landscape and create a dialogue with the centenary Pine Trees.
Columba Tree House was designed to be almost entirely wood made in a way that when it faces its centenary neighbours it makes us remember where it all came from. A varied collection of woods is used in this house, Japanese Cedar, Birchwood, Thermowood, cork, different types of pine, this variety tries to connect the visitor to nature and evidence its beauty not only in the outside but also in the inside.
