Casa Da Vilarinha

It was decided to integrate pieces of the original facade into the new facade, as if fixing fragments of history. The new facade seeks a sharp separation of the two floors that make up the new intervention: the lower part, which preserves parts of the pre-existing facade, is purposely fragmented and the surfaces have different depths, thus relating to the rhythm of the pre-existing neighboring buildings facades; the upper floor is clearly autonomous, both in terms of proportion and in terms of language. Here appears a surface of vertical slats that delimit the public façade of the house, creating a visual filter between the public space and the private space. In the future, this slat will serve as a support for a vertical garden, which will accentuate the visual filter and will also function as a filter for dust and smells from the constant traffic that is observed in the adjacent street.

Throughout the process, curves spontaneously emerged and helped to resolve the design: first, on the back facade, the canopy saw the need to contour an existing tree that was intended to be maintained; with this rounded shape, the canopy allows shading of the façade, creates a useful outdoor covered area, in the extension of the living room and kitchen, and a balcony on the upper floor, at the same time that it seems to embrace the tree; due to the requirement of a formal and aesthetic relationship with the annex, the same type of design was proposed for its roof, thus communicating the main building and its dependence in a coherent and integrated way (the dance); other curved elements also appear on the slab of the front patio, where an opening is created over the pedestrian entrance on the ground floor, thus enabling the creation of a semi-covered patio at the entrance to the house.

As with the front facade, but for different reasons, the upper part of the rear facade was clad with a set of vertical slats, which, unlike the first ones, with a static and closed appearance, have a dynamic appearance, allowing the opening of the glazed spans over the private backyard.