e|348: House in Porto

The house designed in Porto by e|348 arquitectura is a building consisting of two distinct adjacent and interrelated volumes, the housing itself – consisting of two storeys plus a penthouse – and a garage. Although the volume, apparently, is being treated as a solid monolith, it is fully traversed with vertical and horizontal voids, with the purpose of creating strong visual relations with it’s contiguous exterior spaces and allowing the light to enter through the entire house.

On the ground floor are the social and service areas, plus, on the North-West side, an attachment to be used as a garage. The entire floor is opened, from North to South, allowing social areas relate frankly to their outdoor spaces of natural expansion. The 1st floor consists of three bedrooms, all connected by a balcony with the dual function of solar and privacy control device, by means of a wooden grid supported on a metal beam structure.

The penthouse hosts a reading/study area divided in two levels connected exteriorly by a panoramic path, surrounding a small green roof. Inserted within a previous volumetric urban plan defined by a set of rules, the building aims to provide a unique spatial experience, and achieve a thorough response to its climatic requirements, for, through correct bioclimatic performance, offer, naturally and passively, the desired thermal and lighting comfort.