Architects: AZO – Sequeira Arquitectos Associados
Project: The Dovecote
Author: Mário Sequeira
Team: Pedro Soares, Fátima Barroso, Jorge Vilela, João Alves
Location: Soutelo, Portugal
Area 54.0 m2
Photographs: Nelson Garrido
The Dovecote is an old building transformed and renovated by AZO – Sequeira Arquitectos Associados in Soutelo, Portugal.
Description by AZO: This is an emotional design. Our client asked us to reform an old dovecote in the backyard of his home. We decided to propose a play house for the children and a balneary to serve the pool on the ground floor. The whole family loved the idea.
We wanted a play room inspired by magic, fantasy and also by the childhood dreams and memories… We decided to transform the old dovecote in a minimal concrete “tree house” that represents these memories and fantasies of pure and peaceful way.
We look for a way that seemed the main volume is levitating as a tree house but simultaneously it had to be balanced and pure. The idea was that the interior was absent of superfluous elements and were gradually decorated by the works and toys of these children as a reflection of consumer society we are experiencing.
Some elements remained of the original building as the triangular window through which entered doves.
Inspired by childhood dreams, we want to highlight with this small building the peace, the balance and the simplicity that are so needed in a particularly agitated and violent period that we are living.
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