Slideshow: a curved concrete facade wraps around the front of this house by A2+ Arquitectos in Leiria, Portugal, with a large hole revealing the rectilinear house behind (photos by Fernando Guerra).
There's a tiny courtyard behind this rounded opening and a door leading into the ensuite bathroom of one of the house's four bedrooms.
The exposed concrete walls show the markings of their pine formwork, intended to reference the client's links to the forestry industry, while the other walls are rendered in plaster.
Bedrooms are all positioned along the eastern edge of the single-storey house so that they receive the most sunlight in the mornings, while the living room is located at the southern end, the kitchen is on the western side and the garage faces north.
Large glazed sliding doors lead from the living and dining room onto a patio that's shaded by the overhanging roof.
Back in November we reported on a house in the same city with a hole in the roof.
See more projects in Portugal »
Here are a few more project details from A2+ Arquitectos:
Casa Xieira II
Leiria, Portugal
Implemented in a slender lot from north to south, the project born with the aim of building a dwelling with a single floor.
The typology was defined according to the best sunlight, as this is one of the richest of this Mediterranean country. So all rooms are oriented to the east, the living room (place more permanent) to south, the kitchen to west and garage to north where the functionality is the symbiosis of the project.
The professional link of the owner to the forestry sector, led us to look for sources of inspiration in the region. We are in the west of the country, near the city of Leiria that is distinguished by loggers and mythical forests (created by King D. Dinis in order to protect the city from sand storms from the winds off the Atlantic ocean) this was the turning point of the project which allowed us to take advantage of traditional formwork pine boards used in the concrete in sight walls at core walls of the house.
The simplicity of the project s expressed by twisting volumes, clearly creating a courtyard entry that indicates slightly pedestrian access to the main entrance of the house. These indications are given to the observer by curvilinear shapes of the concrete in sight walls.
As the source of inspiration used, the project resulted from a constant metamorphosis of the modern, minimalist, fragile and traditional, raw, lush. Thus were linked elements such as rough wood formwork of the in sight concrete and the creation of curvilinear and modern shapes, between the black color in the concrete and the traditional white plaster, between facades of black shale and Portuguese sidewalk, between the massive scale volumes and thin sun protect flaps or the long glazed windows.
As a result of this exercise was created a typology of family dwelling, this project distinct itself from the others by their discreetly bold presence without never denying the deep roots of their culture.
Project: Xieira house II
Location: Caranguejeira \ Leiria \ Portugal
Architecture: A2+Arquitectos \\ Sara Oliveira + Marco Guarda
Site area: 520 sq.m.
Building area: 350 sq.m.
Project construction: 2010 \ 2011