Fala

House of Countless Windows

House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão

House of Countless Windows

Fala

ARCHITECTS
Fala

LANDSCAPE DESIGN
João Magalhães

PROJECT TEAM
Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares, Ahmed Belkhodja, Lera Samovich, Joana Sendas, João Carlos Lopes, Kentaro Hayashi

ENGINEERING
Paulo Sousa, Mp+pf

CONTRACTOR
Ogc

PHOTOGRAPHS
Francisco Ascensão, Giulietta Margot

AREA
240 M²

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
Lisboa, Portugal

CATEGORY
Houses

The house has more levels and windows than a typical house in similar circumstances normally would.

From an outside perspective, the house is both much bigger and much smaller than what would be expected.

House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão
House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão
House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão

The rigid rhythm of small openings meets an ordered interior, where living spaces unfold left and right from the central staircase. Inside, a system of split levels is disguised between the slab thicknesses that disappear between the windows.

Within the outer perimeter, none of the walls remain opaque; instead, a sequence of transversal glass brick walls on every level divides the spaces while still allowing a blurry glimpse from one to the next.

On the top floor, the main spaces find themselves nestled under a vaulted ceiling—the only exception within the otherwise strict system.

House of Countless Windows
© Giulietta Margot
House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão
House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão

The façade grid, the plan structure, and the overall spatial system are dependent on each other, like a parametrical device.

Each element in the system is universal and repeated countless times, be it a wall, a door, a window, or a handrail.

House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão
House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão

The metrics of the different materials (20x20cm glass brick, 30x30cm marble tiles, etc) contribute to the maniac set of rules that render each room identical and establish uniform relations between programs and the inside-outside transitions. 

Every decision that followed, practical, ethical, or aesthetic, and even the inhabitation that occurs today, results and contributes to this abstract yet very tangible reality.

House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão
House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão

The house is an applied theorem. Its “houseness” is not easy to grasp, forcing the inhabitant to find it and even force it in the construction that resulted from the set of predetermined rules that composed the project.

The project is closer to being a mathematical equation in physical form than a house.

House of Countless Windows
© Francisco Ascensão


House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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House of Countless Windows
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Fala
T +351 913 134612
Fala
Porto, Portugal