Project: Águeda House
Architects: Atelier Espaço Objecto
Location: Águeda, Portugal
Year 2018
Photo credits: Ivo Tavares Studio
Text: Espaço Objecto
It was an intervention in an eclectic architecture building, dating from the beginning of the 20th century, classified by Águeda UMP (Urban Master Planning) as public interest property.
The Águeda House, located in Av. Dr. Joaquim de Melo, displayed a set of decorative elements in its facades, influenced by or with Art Deco references and, as it happens in other buildings of the same type, a higher element, tower- like stood out in its volumetry, which was positioned in the body of the building closest to the public street, only as decorative effect.
Its integration into the urban grid plan, where this typology of isolated single-family dwelling predominates, and its visual relation and proximity to the public garden Conselheiro Conde de Sucena, assign an added value to this building, besides its historical particularities in the context of the early twenty-century Portuguese architecture.
The program carried out on the two floors of the pre-existent property comprised, at the ground level, the entrance area and the living room; on the first floor, the library and a bedroom with a walk-in closet and ensuite bath.
The proposed extension area included two-floor interconnected volumes. In one of these volumes, the ground floor was designed for the kitchen and backup areas, while the first floor would encompass two bedrooms and their corresponding ensuite bathrooms.
This new body got linked to the pre-existent building assuming some formal and volumetric commitment, being connected through a small volume, which enhanced and marked the new intervention.
The texture, colour and pattern of the new white concrete construction contributed to create the relationship between the two bodies which, although widely different in their architectural language and so far apart in time, sought the possible dialogue, not only through volumetry, but also with some elements and materials that designed their facades.
The second extension of the body links directly to the first one and it also comprises two floors, a basement and a ground floor. The basement was designed for the parking area, cellar and storage room, whose access is done through an outside ramp and by an interior staircase that stands next to the service area. On the ground floor there’s a living room, a small exercise room and sanitary facilities to back up these two spaces and the pool. This single-story volume is rectangular-shaped and its placement near the pool helps create an outdoor area with some privacy.
In the outdoor area of the swimming pool, a quadrangular open-air lounge was introduced, which allows to enjoy the view over a garden on the basement floor, as well as providing natural light into the basement and the cellar space.
The annex building situated on the north and east ends connects to the service zone of the house and includes a laundry, a kennel and a covered backup area.
In the non-built up area, a green zone was created with grass and some bushes.
