House in Monchique
HOUSE IN MONCHIQUE
Pereira Miguel Arquitectos
ARCHITECTS
Pereira Miguel Arquitectos
COLLABORATOR
Mafalda Mena
MANUFACTURERS
BANDALUX, Fabri, Gryrofocus, Jofebar, Waterworks by Sanibano
LEAD ARCHITECTS
Luís Pereira Miguel, Filipe Martins Correia
CONTRACTOR
Paviana Construções
PHOTOGRAPHS
Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
AREA
350 m²
YEAR
2018
LOCATION
Monchique, Portugal
CATEGORY
Houses
Text description provided by architect.
House for a Buddhist – Monchique. In the hills of Monchique, between ups and downs, taking advantage of an extraordinary situation is this single-storey house.
Set in a southern slope, with access by small and winding tar road, lies over one of several existing terraces that tear the steep slope into small cultivable levels.
It is in this scenario that one arrives to contemplate all the open view towards the Algarve coast and sea. The small hills are diluted as the distance increases and the entire path of the sun is visible from the edge of the pool.
From the curve of the road one can access the house through a funnel ramp that grabs the main and defining lines of the project:
Beyond the main volume is a small house, further away, under a cork oak tree, with independent access and clinging to the concrete wall.
The line of the concrete support wall, similar to the stone terraces; and the line of the house, also made of concrete, which stands straight between the terraces.
It is intended for the special guest, the master, who appreciates silence, meditation, and transcendental experience.
The project is then defined by the landscape, the relationship between the two built volumes, the endless pool that mirrors everything into the various spaces that make up the house.
The rest is simple, transparent materiality, with the concrete reproducing the fossilized woods in their walls, the finest aluminum possible, and the softened or diced granite stone that goes in and out the house, playing with the confines of things. If Yoga is the architecture of peace, then here we have everything to meditate on this teaching.
