Large floating pergolas define a pair of twin houses situated on a steep slope in Sesimbra, Portugal. Designed by Portuguese architecture practice Extrastudio, the twin houses were transformed from the 1960s house into a new holiday home to meet demands of two sisters and their families to come together in summer. 

Covering a total of 250-square-metre area, the houses look like as if they mimic the natural environment where they were placed in. The architects specifically chose the earthy-toned color platte to disappear the house in this natural surrounding. 

The project is located in Sesimbra, a small fishing village 30km south of Lisbon, on a large, sloping site 600m from the sea, which extends from the village to the castle and is bounded by a pine forest and a former Roman road.

"The landscape here has a wild Cycladic beauty and breathtaking views of the sea. Olive trees, figs and Aleppo pines grow on arid rocky soils, once used for agriculture," said Extrastudio.

"Our first decision was to build a new house in two separate volumes, providing autonomy for each family. Like twins, they share properties but each also expresses itself in a slightly different way; one higher and open, exposed to the landscape, the other more horizontal, seeking an intimate relationship with the surrounding land."

The architects also added that a holiday house must summon its own universe. Jørn Utzon's Can Lisand Cini Boeri's Casa Rotundaare examples of this; essential, intimate and generous houses, deeply rooted to their site and the culture to which they belong. Buildings that help locate us physically and where time passes at a different pace.

The studio had to use 250 square meters as the maximum floor area according to legal restrictions, then they inserted courtyards and created a large canopy around each house, extending the interior to the exterior and generating additional outdoor areas, with planting overhead to provide shade. A 6-m deep, suspended structure floats around the houses in a filigree of cable and wire, creating a large outdoor living room, which overlooks the sea, where the whole family can meet.

"These are recurring themes of the Mediterranean climate where ivy, jasmine and vines have been used for centuries to provide shade and protection from the sweltering heat, keeping the inside cool," added the studio. 

Embedded in the ground, the houses appear to emerge from the rock. Colored concrete was used, created with brown ochre pigments, tested endlessly until an identical color to the surrounding earth was found. 

Its surface, with exposed aggregates, is both rough and smooth, like stone or an animal skin. To obtain this texture, the concrete was poured at dusk, using a chemical process to delay the surface mortar from setting, washing it off at early dawn. 

This special landscape called for a specific atmosphere: intense and rough, made of strong and sensual raw materials. Inside, all elements are reduced to a minimum, materials are left in their natural state and only the walls are painted. Windows and shutters slide completely into the walls, transforming the whole house into an exterior space. When open, eating, sleeping and bathing take place outdoors, sheltered from the sun with a breeze passing by.

Concrete elements are placed at particular points on the site. A bench, a platform and a circular pool define small spaces in nature, creating unique moments in the landscape. In summer, hidden among the native plants, a cestrum nocturnum and a rare eucalyptus citriodora add an olfactory, magical dimension to the place.

Location plan

Basement plan

Ground floor plan

Roof plan

Section

East elevation

South elevation

Project facts

Place: Sesimbra, Portugal

Program: Private house, 250m2 

Budget: 480.000€

Year: 2019

Architecture: João Caldeira Ferrão, João Costa Ribeiro, Madalena Atouguia, Daniela Freire, Maria João Oliveira, Sónia Oliveira, Tiago Pinhal, Rui de Jesus, Rita Rodrigues, Sonia Hernansanz

Landscape architecture: Oficina dos Jardins, Sonia Caldeira, Ines Ferrao

Consultants: 

PRPC Engenheiros (structural engineering)

Naproge (plumbing)

OHMSOR (gas, building physics, acoustics, electrical, security)

Construction: Paviana

Furniture: Loja Nord + Extrastudio

All images © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

All drawings © Extrastudio

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