Casa M.C.

Built in the midst of natural surroundings, in Romariz, Santa Maria da Feira, Casa M.C. is a house, in which the light, entering through huge windows, reveals the true highlight of this space – its views over the garden. The entrance to the house is at ground level, to the north, accessed via a pleasant ramp. The existence of a slope, south to north, led to the creation of a false basement – housing the garage and hall, as well as some service areas for the house.

The ‘bridge’ is perched on the elevated land in order to take advantage of views to the west over the pine forest.

Seen from the outside, from the swimming pool area, the grandeur of this property immediately becomes apparent thanks to the two separate volumes that show the length of the upper floor, creating a covered parking space and bringing about a lighter volumetry – a kind of bridge that interacts with the surrounding garden. The social spaces are also located on the upper floor: the kitchen, the living room and the dining room – completely open to outdoors –, as well as the study, which is part of the ‘bridge’, where your gaze is drawn out over the extension of nature. The ‘bridge’ is perched on the elevated land in order to take advantage of views to the west over the pine forest that extends to the bottom of the plot. And it is through the bridge corridor that the two bodies of the building relate to each other and the garden flows underneath. The entire residence benefits from views over the surrounding garden, and it is in this garden, at an intermediate level between the basement and the ground floor, that we find the swimming pool. The relationship between indoors and outdoors is constant in this project, designed by Lopes da Costa architecture firm, determining the functional organisation of the house. Here, in this natural oasis, it is the sun, the shadows and the views that reign and that make any being want this time to last, while the hustle and bustle of the day is left behind.