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Agrela House in Portugal designed by Spaceworkers

The Portuguese architecture and design studio Spaceworkers® led by Henrique Marques and Rui Dinis has designed ''Agrela House'' a single-family home that is located in Paredes in northern Portugal

Architect's statement: A house for books. This challenge started with a premise from the client: space for many books. Immediately, our imaginary guided us to the many classical renaissance libraries, with sliding stairs that reach the book mountain. That was the motto of the intervention: a high space capable of generate the composition and hierarchize interior spaces. The ideia was growing and the volumetric experience led to the functional differentiation of the interior spaces, crating a roof as a restless mass with different heights. The roof also figures itself in a fifth facade and influences the idealization of the other ones.

concrete house with swimming pool in front image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Suddenly we had created a dense, heavy, monolithic cover roof that needed to be subverted, giving an idea of levitating mass that is slightly lying on light wood and glass. The roof seems to crush the users, reminding them of their own scale as humans and the ancestral importance of the shelter.

concrete wall and glass window image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The time - important architectural component - is also an essential agent of the composition. The built elements - specially in concrete - seek to register the passage of time through it formwork texture. This formwork, similar to the roof variations, assumes ups and downs, protrusions and recesses, allowing it to keep the time with the representation of the shadows during the different hours of the day, giving also a dramatic appearance to the facades.

house in Portugal with concrete textures image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

As the time passes the textured concrete will naturally age and will be more integrated in the rural surroundings. The same will happen to the wood base, which the older it gets the more magnificence will become, enriching the house.

tree with orange leaves at autumn image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

woman putting books in bookshelves image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

a woman with red hair working on her desk image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

staircase with metallic handrail on wall image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

dining table with red chairs image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

parquet flooring image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

concrete house surrounded with treesimage © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

cat staring from balcony image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

concrete house with swimming pool image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

house with textured concrete walls image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

drone image of the house from above image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

cloudy weather at sunset image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Agrela House in Portugal designed by Spaceworkersimage © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

house with swimming pool at backyard image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

pool with illumination at night image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

light reflection in pool at night image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

living room with comfortable sofa image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

concrete facade image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Ground Floor PlanGround Floor Plan

First Floor PlanFirst Floor Plan

Rooftop Floor PlanRoof Floor Plan

Roof Floor PlanRoof Floor Plan

Section drawings Sections

Elevations Elevations 

 

Project name: Agrela House

Architecture firm: Spaceworkers

Principal architect: Henrique Marques, Rui Dinis

Project team: Marco Santos, Marta Silva, Mónica Pacheco, Tiago Maciel

Location: Paredes , Portugal

Project size: 3658 m²

Completion year: 2018

Photography: Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Furniture Design: Bairro Design 

Finance Director: Carla Duarte - cfo 

Engineering: Simetria Vertical


By Naser Nader Ibrahim

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