ÉVORA, PORTUGAL 2008

The area proposed for the construction of the house has relatively rare characteristic: it is located in Évora’s Historic Centre, one of the areas of highest density of construction, however, in a space completely free, enclosed by a wall that draws the corner between two perpendicular streets.

In an initial stage we decided to develop two proposals, in competition, each proposing different occupations and attitudes towards the irregular nature of the intervention lot. Both foresee the conservation and reinforcement of the existing wall next to Gabriel Victor do Monte Pereira street and 31 de Janeiro street, accepting it as clear limit whose opacity is punctually “pierced” at the ends where people, and possibly cars, access the house. This wall/limit defines a reserved relationship with the streets and buildings around it, since, in addition to these entrances, the houses do not have any openings at street level, giving them a character of great privacy.

In both houses it was proposed a half-buried more private floor (with the rooms’ area), limited to the west by the existing wall and oriented to a patio/garden to the east that provides for the lighting. Despite this common condition, the two proposals are quite different in the way of inhabiting the lot in its depth and relationship with the surroundings at the elevation above the wall (first floor), as well as in the relationship with the patio/garden, of different drawing and qualities, the fundamental space in each of the houses.