This dreamy holiday bunker designed by Portuguese studio Phyd Arquitectura is sunk into the landscape, overlooking the hills near Torres Novas.
The monolithic House in Pedrogão is made from concrete and has a glazed facade that provides residents with a panoramic view of the surroundings.
The house sits upon the rear of a timber-covered plinth, which has a swimming pool at the opposite end.
Behind the front living area are enclosed rooms that include a kitchen, two bathrooms, a bedroom and a study.
The house was completed in 2008.
This is the second Portuguese project published on Dezeen this month, following a completely white house with an asymmetrical roof - see all our stories about projects in Portugal here.
Photography is by Montse Zamorano.
The following information is from Phyd Arquitectura:
Time Suspension - and the creating act
I take Saramago once again: “My relation with time is, above all, very specific….when trying to express it graphically; I understand time as a large screen, a huge screen, where every single event is projected, including the oldest and the most recent. On that screen, everything is side by side in a kind of chaos as if time was compressed and flattened on that surface; as if events, facts and people were shown and assembled chaotically instead of being diachronically assembled, and we were meant to find a meaning.”
That idea of time, Flat Time, described in Saramago’s words, could be the ultimate dream we aspire to. That idea of architecture as a tool for capturing places, topographies, landscapes, customs and people. That project fulfils the mission of retaining, composing, organizing customs and qualities of the place. A Flat Time, cleared up by topography, arranged by function and disposed by space qualification.
A profound architectural image of space disposition and organization, this possibility of imagining a Flat Time where inhabiting is made possible, where our work and labour is naturally defined by various space elements.
A Flat Time that enables us to;
Live below the soil and above the air.
Live in substance and in landscape.
As if there was a character particular to things and to Architecture, where the logic of construction of the Imaginary is rooted in the logical nature of making, disposing, assembling, organizing, in such a way we can say there is a Nature of Things.
As if Architecture has always built a truth and its opposite. In a relation between lightness and weight, that antithesis, that gravitational illusion has always nurtured the dreams of architects throughout the history of Architecture. It has been limited by skill and dream. The Architecture we make should pursue the building of lightness, with the weight characteristic to substance, which is imposed by the skill of its own time.
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Addition
The project harbors only one level inserted on the terrain, th rough the construction of a level platform. This strategy of construction benefits from the terrain dangling, allowing by a very simple manner the perfect harmony with the surrounding nature, emerging with its volume from the pending of the landscape, assuming it's quotas as their own.
The access is provided by the superior level of the terrain, emancipating the exterior areas, and the favorable areas to unburden views creating a unique relationship with the surrounding. The level platform mentioned above enabled the project for the housing areas and swimming pool on its superior end, and the technical areas on its inferior end.
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Gross area = 285.76 m2
Floor area = 108 m2
Area of land = 17920 m2
The project constituted by two areas of housing, the area most "embedded" in the field, and the pool area of support and preparation of food directed to the southwest, taking advantage of the views. These two areas are separated by an area of health installations. As facilities outside areas, are located between the pool and its area of support.
Laterally to the swimming pool, at a lower level is a technical area.
Stating, the project is consisted by 9 (nine) different areas; 1 living room, 1 room, 2 toilets, 1 area of preparation of food, 1 area of support and meals, 1 area of support to the pool, 1 swimming pool, 1 technical area.
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Energy efficiency
The measures further to improve the energy performance of buildings have taken into account outdoor climatic and local conditions as well as indoor climate environment and cost-effectiveness.
The energy performance of the house has been calculated on the basis of a methodology, at a regional level, according to the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2009/91/CE.
It has been given most importance to thermal insulations, heating and air-conditioning installations and the use of renewable energy sources culminating on the design of the house. Meeting the energy performance requirements tailored to the local climate, exploring its full potential.
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Project category: Concrete
Name of the project: House in Pedrogão
Name of the architect: Paulo Henrique Sousa Durão
Year of construction: 2008
Site location: Pedrogão: Torres Novas, Portugal