A striking, angular new volume balances above the granite walls of a 74 year-old country house in Portugal. Named Casa Taíde, it is the latest offering by local architects Rui Vieira Oliveira and Vasco Manuel Fernandes.
The house's striking angular addition - folding to become the volume's walls and roof - replaced the existing wooden structure of the old house, while adding to it 60 sq m of living space across two levels. The extension unites the old and the new in this family home in the small town of Taíde.
Take an interactive tour of Casa Taíde
The client - a couple with one young daughter - originally approached the architects with 'something simple' in mind. and the team obliged with a design that appears straightforward at first. However, the solution was informed by several key elements.
One half of the couple, having lived there his entire life, had particularly strong ties to the house and neighbourhood and so ideas of context and memory strongly influenced the design. Wanting to engage the surroundings in a 'friendly way' while at the same time protect the residents' privacy, the structure directly references the inclined roofs typical of the region, folding into itself to protect the interiors from the area's amphitheatrical nature.
These overarching folds also help compartmentalise the spaces, organising the interior and creating protected external areas for leisure and contemplation. 'It drew itself automatically,' explains Oliveira. The ground floor - rooted by the rock of an ancient grape mill that previously stood on site - houses the kitchen, guest bathroom, office and a double height living room. On the upper level, two bedrooms are accessed through a cantilevered staircase.
The project's environmental credentials include a pillar-beam construction and external insulation system ETICS, which ensure a good thermal performance. Inside, Carrara marble and Nordic pine are used to highlight and frame views inside and out, created by the roof's dramatic folds.
Oliveira and Fernandes' new residential design subtly reveals clues about its past, remaining rooted to its location, while at the same time it proposes a thoroughly modern architectural environment for the young family of three.
The white form replaces a previous degrading wooden structure, adding sixty square metres over two levels
The dramatic design references the inclined roofs typical of the region
The ground floor is rooted by the rock of an ancient grape mill that stood previously
The ground floor houses the kitchen, guest bathroom, office, and double height living space
The two main bedrooms are located upstairs, accessed through a cantilevered staircase
Good thermal performance is ensured through the external insulation system ETICS used in the wall construction
Tuscan Carrara marble and Nordic pine award character to interior spaces
The overarching folds compartmentalize the spaces, organizing the interior and creating protected external areas for leisure and contemplation
The house has characteristics of introversion and extroversion, both rooted to the ground and dynamically growing into the future
The form folds into itself, providing privacy against the neighbourhood's 'ampitheater' nature in which 'every word is listened'
-
Explore Tom Kundig’s unusual houses, from studios on wheels to cabins slotted into bouldersThe American architect’s entire residential portfolio is the subject of a comprehensive new book, ‘Tom Kundig: Complete Houses’
-
Inside yacht maker Azimut’s horizon-expanding HQ, by Michele De Lucchi’s AMDL CircleThe design of Azimut’s headquarters in Piedmont, Italy, is open, adaptable, and befitting ‘a place of creativity’
-
‘Belonging’ – the LFA 2026 theme is revealed, exploring how places can become personalThe idea of belonging and what it means in today’s world will be central at the London Festival of Architecture’s explorations, as the event’s 2026 theme has been announced today
-
Into the woods: a Hampshire home by Alma-nac is the perfect retreat -
Noiascape’s refined co-living digs for generation rent in London -
Hot stuff: a Chilean house draws on its volcanic landscape -
A Hampstead home by Groves Natcheva brings art deco into the 21st century -
A San Francisco live/work space plays with opacity and transparency -
Victorian minimalist: inside Gable House’s pared-back Scandi interior -
Studio Saxe’s twin villas in Costa Rica make for the perfect tropical retreat -
Disco fever: a dynamic duo reinvents a London townhouse
