We start from a gently declining terrain towards the sea. With few trees, the view is defined in a cut between a densely forested hillside and the sea.

The house is organized in two pavilions parallel to each other and perpendicular to the hillside. The open space is thus internalized and takes the form of a courtyard, which in turn frames the landscape of the valley and the sea. The patio is the space where the main rooms of the house face, guaranteeing total independence from neighboring buildings. This dismemberment of the program avoids the usual division of volumes into a caretaker’s house, main house, and pool pavilion. Here, in a contrary movement, we incorporate these programs (which tend to be dispersed in the plot), with the desire to guarantee a wider and more continuous garden. This, of course, without compromising the privacy of each family.

This organization also suggests a greater informality, always desirable in a beach house. The rooms are large, with sloping ceilings and always associated with verandas, always with oblique and generous views of the landscape. The environments thus gain an autonomy that is reflected not only in privacy but also in optimized ventilation and natural lighting conditions. Finally, the implantation allows the house to interfere little with, and benefit from, the predominant wind flow, sea-slope direction.

The house, in its linear organization, always establishes different relationships with the terrain. Next to the street, it is slightly lowered, suggesting a construction with the simplicity of the houses in the region. The roof is close to the ground. A stone wall surrounds the house and characterizes the access. The bedrooms and the balconies are level with the patio. A third level accommodates the swimming pool and takes advantage of the shade generated by the volumes of the living room and the couple’s bedroom, already completely detached from the ground. The lower part of the garden is thus directly related to the house.

The living room and kitchen are integrated in the same glazed volume, which enjoys the wide view of the valley and the sea through the patio. The kitchen is associated with a balcony with the dining table, and the living room with a balcony overlooking the hillside, also with a view of the sea. The couple’s bedroom reproduces this same condition, although sheltered from the patio. The design of balconies as roof pulls was avoided, that is, the balconies are continuous spaces under the same roof – open rooms. Some small changes to the program were also suggested, such as the suppression of the restroom, which we felt was unnecessary in view of the location of the cloakroom – it is worth remembering here that the condominium legislation prevents the location of any program on the lower floor.

These are the aspects we would like you to evaluate in this first study. The standard of finishes is open and we can define it in the next stage, the preliminary design. We can, however, anticipate the following:

The walls and foundations can be made of stone, a granite from the region with irregular laying. The external floors can be made of brick or wood, in the form of a deck. The wooden structure can be made with eucalyptus logs in the region’s pattern, or it can be a calculated structure, made by a specialized company. The roof of the pavilions can be made with clay or wooden tiles. If clay tiles are used, some areas can be left unlined. The clay tiles can be handmade (sergipinha type) or industrialized. The former are more rustic, because the tiles are more irregular (and this is the fun of it).

The internal floors can be of burnt cement and/or wooden floor, and the walls painted with pigmented whitewash. The ceilings can be made of wood lath, in the same color as the wood, or painted white. The pool can be made of concrete (or mortar), so that the water has the color of a pond, i.e., slightly greenish. Or we can cover it with glass tablets in a darker shade. Landscaping is fundamental in this project. We imagined lush gardens that would soften not only the microclimate on the land, but also the very presence of the house on the hillside.

As you can see, it is a house thought and focused for those who use it, simple, more discreet when seen from the street and more expressive as it develops on the hillside, unveiling views that today seem unlikely on the terrain.