Organized on two levels, the house designed by Artequitectos is oriented primarily towards the interior of the plot, seeking refuge and privacy. In this sense, the various rooms are arranged in close relation to a private, introspective garden: the upper floor houses the main social and private functions, while the ground floor concentrates the service and support spaces.
The authenticity of the materials used conveys a clear sense of permanence. Exposed concrete defines the structure and establishes the scale; wood provides texture and warmth; and travertine lends a note of sobriety and elegance. Between restraint and emotion, Habitação CL presents itself as a dwelling that interprets the site and combines space and light as essential elements of the act of living.
Habitação CL by Artequitectos. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.
Project description by Artequitectos
This project emerges from the dialogue between topography, material and the act of inhabiting. More than a response to a functional brief, the house seeks to interpret the site and inscribe within it a serene everyday experience, where space, light and time intertwine with natural ease.
The clients — a couple working management and economics and energy sector — revealed from the outset a refined sensitivity towards architecture as both discipline and lived experience. Their intention was clear: to conceive a house with contemporary lines, restrained yet expressive, where the relationship with the outdoors, the simplicity of gestures and the authenticity of materials would be fundamental.
Architectural Concept
The proposal is structured around the extension of an existing retaining wall on the western boundary — a dense and structural element that becomes the founding gesture of the project. This wall defines the edge of the plot, sets the building’s elevation, and generates a raised platform on which the house discreetly rests. Its implantation respects the surrounding urban morphology and allows the programme to unfold mostly on a single level at garden height, preserving the two-storey reading that characterises the neighbouring constructions.
The house turns inward, seeking a sense of retreat. The spatial organisation unfolds around a sheltered garden, framed by a northern retaining wall that stabilises the site and reinforces the idea of a patio — a private, silent, contemplative space.
Organization and Materiality
The programme is distributed with a clear functional hierarchy. The lower floor, partially embedded into the terrain, accommodates support spaces. The upper floor houses the living areas, articulated with clarity between social and private zones, always maintaining a direct relationship with the exterior. Social areas extend into the garden, dissolving the boundaries between interior and constructed landscape.
Materiality is embraced as architectural language: exposed concrete, rough and honest, defines the structure and establishes scale; thermally modified wood introduces texture and warmth; travertine, carefully selected, punctuates the whole with sobriety, permanence and elegance.
More than a programme, this house is an exercise in synthesis — between building and dwelling, between restraint and emotion, between architecture and time.
