House on Rua de São Mamede ao Caldas

This house represents the ground floor of an 18th century building near the castle, whose pre-existing patrimony pictured a time and an identity, originating a new dwelling programme that elected spatial values and determined tweaks in geometry in the relationship with the existing openings. The garden favours the view over downtown’s roofs and the Tejo. The pre-existence is added a new volume where the private functions of the house are gathered, freeing the ancient spaces for the more expressive and social roles. The unexpected discovery of a cistern halfway through the intervention symbolically allowed for the connectivity between the more sheltered area of the house and the sky, and to cross it with the horizontal verticality of the ensemble and the landscape. The interior of the house evokes the past, which is configured as the backdrop of a centuries old architecture, determined in its identity by stonework, arched openings, vaulted roofs and tiled walls. The contrast with new materials is visible and the subtlety and respect for the original language is preserved, which is kept as the main protagonist of the space.