Casa no Gerês, designed by Porto-based Correia/Ragazzi Architects, has received its fair share of international awards and is a house I can see myself live in. A simple box, not too big and with a view to die for.
This is a house that is easy to love from certain perspectives and from others; it looks quite unsuitable for its surroundings. From some angles, the house seems like an accident, some kind of a mishap with transportation containers and building materials. One part of the building is buried inside the hill while another sticks out over the river. It appears about to teeter off the hill at any moment, just waiting to land in its final resting place in the river.
The owners, Micé and Eduardo Pinto Ferreira, have been Correia’s clients for more than a decade, and gave her carte blanche to create their dream house on the 5,000 square-meter site by the Cávado river, as long as no trees were cut and the 60 square-meter house (maximum allowed footprint for the site) was made of concrete. The house is located in Peneda-Gerês National Park, along the Spanish border in northern Portugal, so the environment and its inviolability were crucial and the rules strict.
But looking out from the inside, the awesome beauty of the home becomes apparent. The simplicity of the structure, the openness of the views and the calm balance of the elements seems to speak the same language as the bleak surroundings. Nature has a way of being beautiful even when it is not, and this house knows that secret.
2 comments:
Wow! I was spoke with my sister about this house today, and I would never expect to see it in your blog! As you know I'm Portuguese, and my parents are from a town nearby Gerês where my uncles still have residence. The construction of that house was a small scandal due to the fact that Gerês is a national park and it's a very traditional area. I do believe that the result was magnificent although I would never live in such a place. The idea of an house in the middle of nowhere with vast open windows is something I find quite scary... There is a rock nearby where you can observe that house without being seen. Could you bare that idea?
What a coincidence!
I know you're portugese, but since it's big country and the north isn't that much populated as the south it's really a coincidence your parents live nearby.
I wouldn't mind being watched by some people, I live in the citycentre right now and there are also people watching inside. If I need privacy I close curtains or blinds.
I think they did a great job placing this very unusual building in an area that is a national park. I love the fact that it can be done in Portugal. Here in NL you'd probably end up in a suburb between all kinds of other houses in different styles with not much ground , which looks messy.
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