Habitar Portugal 12-14HP 12-14

The programme for this project was a three-bedroom house above store building built in the 1980s, where part of the roof serves was left as simple slab flooring to create a small balcony, precisely with the idea of building a dwelling on top later.
Given the restraints resulting from the existing store, the dwelling’s form is determined from the outset: a box that sits atop the existing structure. The bedrooms are located on the east side, the bathrooms face west, as does the kitchen, which also has views of a century-old olive tree and a group of large poplar trees. The existing balcony is retained, it’s  floor ‘duplicated’ on top to o er shade. The living room faces south, its south/east corner cut o diagonally to provide more balcony space and offer an exterior area protected from both sun and rain, yet with views over the valley that stretches towards the horizon.