Completed in 2021, the Holiday Home in Comporta, designed by Estudio AMATAM, is a house developed for two French families who spend holidays together in Portugal to escape urban living.
Holiday Home in Comporta Technical Information
- Architects1-3: Estúdio AMATAM
- Location: Rua do Pinhal, lote 88, Brejos da Carregueira de Cima, 7580 Comporta, Portugal
- Client: Boa Hora, Société Civile Immobilière
- Intervention Area: 598 m²
- Construction Gross Area: 220 m²
- Project Year: 2021
- Photographs: © Garcês
We sought to develop a house with its own identity, both outside and inside. […]. Consequently, it becomes a space that is a discovery. We believe its cubic exterior hides a very bright Portuguese holiday home. From the outside, one cannot idealize the spatial richness of the interior, nor do those from the inside have the perception of the street.
– Estúdio AMATAM Architects
Holiday Home in Comporta Photographs
Text by the Architects
Developing a house for two families challenged us to create a spatial and programmatic concept that reflects this specificity. This house is meant to be an escape from stress and urban living for two families that want to have holidays together.
We sought to understand what the qualities of a vacation home could be, and we focused on some characteristics that seemed essential to us: an internal spatial organization that allowed a healthy coexistence among its users in a double-high ceiling living room, a very close relation between the social area of the house and its exterior, a clear separation from the private spaces and an atmosphere that revived the morphology of traditional Portuguese houses in the countryside. Having these in mind, our proposal has resulted in an unusual dialogue between the modern and the traditional.
In the exterior, we tried to develop a markedly contemporary language with pure and simple forms, exploring the relationship between two rectangular volumes with distinct shapes. However, these modern volumes conceal an interior that exploits a spatiality that takes advantage of the two-story roofs so characteristic of traditional country houses. However, despite a modern but elegant language, we have provided the exterior with materials that also explore the more artisan side of the country houses through the use of wood in the doorways and window frames, as well as the white ceramic brick. There is a compromise between traditional and popular architecture and the current architecture paradigm.
The front facade is the most reserved one since we tried to turn the house into the interior of the plot, where the main outdoor living spaces are located. The entrance to the house is protected by a wall that creates an intimate relationship within the space of the house. Also, another wall was placed in the parking area at the front of the house to protect the pool area on the back of the plot. Here are the most open green spaces relating to the swimming pool and an outdoor dining area, and the barbecue area extends the kitchen area to the exterior. A Jasmin plant grows on a pergola made of steel cables, which shades this outdoor space.
The larger house windows are also in this area, enhancing the constant relationship between interior and exterior. As a holiday home, we believe routines will be closely linked between trips to the beach and meals at home. Thus, the kitchen will be a prominent space in the family dynamic. Therefore, we sought that this space could communicate straightforwardly with the outside and the pool.
Returning to the concept that gave rise to this proposal, now in the interior, we wanted to explore some characteristics of interior rural houses that have accompanied us since childhood—homes with variable ceiling heights and with the presence of roof plans inside the space. Thus, in the two social areas of the house – the living room and the kitchen – an attempt was made to explore the volumetric plasticity of the gable roof and of different heights, creating spatial hierarchies and stimulating dynamics for those who experience the house.
We sought to develop a house with its own identity, both outside and inside. Furthermore, it can bring together two distinct languages, one inside (more traditional) and one outside (more modern), with the best qualities of both. Consequently, it becomes a space that is a discovery. We believe its cubic exterior hides a very bright Portuguese holiday home. From the outside, one cannot idealize the spatial richness of the interior, nor do those from the inside have the perception of the street.
This is a modern house for a countryside experience.
Holiday Home in Comporta Plans
Holiday Home in Comporta Image Gallery
About Estúdio AMATAM
Estudio Amatam was founded by Manuela Tamborino and João Escaleira Amaral, two architects who decided to join skills to embrace new challenges in various areas of Architecture and Urbanism.
The studio operates in different scenarios and countries with formal and informal strategies. The search for innovative solutions punctuated with creative approaches that bring architecture closer to an art form, together with customer satisfaction, are vectors that guide the focus of this team.
The experience gained in various national and international offices, along with collaboration with other architects on specific assignments, allows them to ensure excellence and professionalism in all involved projects.
Authors: João Amaral, Manuela Tamborino
Collaborator: Vera Lúcia Ferreira
Construction company: Fernando Pedreiro, Construção Civil, Lda.
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