RR House: balancing past and future
Photography by © Renato Ferreira | EDF
For this project, maintaining the pre-existing façade – preserving the past – and optimising a strong connection with the surroundings were two foundational guidelines, reconciling respect for the existing structure with the demands of modernity.
The integration of the building into the terrain aimed to address the question of how to harmonize space within the surroundings. The solution was found in the placement, allowing for the full enjoyment of the Lousã Mountain landscape without losing contact, both physically and visually, with the surrounding ground.
The exterior image of the building results from the fusion of two realities – the present and the past. The memory of the façade represents the past, while contemporaneity is emphatically underscored throughout the proposed construction. By juxtaposing these two moments, a cohesive volume was created that gazes into the future, with the new construction emerging from the pre-existing façade, extending longitudinally across the entire plot, in a clear challenge of material logic.
The duality in the new/old approach is echoed in a play of contrasts: light/dark, projections/recesses, and light/shadow. This dichotomy shapes the house’s image, in a volumetric composition of faceted elements and pure shapes, dematerialized by recessed planes.
An analysis of the surrounding references – typologies and morphologies – guided the selection of local materials, harmonizing them with new construction techniques and reinforcing the approach of communication with the surroundings, where the extensive use of large glass panels is evident.
