Portuguese architect Miguel Marcelino has recently completed a single family house in Vila Nova de Santo Estêvão, Benavente, in the centre of Portugal. The plot is located in the middle of a “montado” landscape, being the best views to the north with a lake and the skyline punctuated by cork oak trees.
The house is organized in a compact volume of two floors, complemented by three courtyards all different in size and features. A first large courtyard, enclosed, intimate, situates on the south side, embracing a big existing cork oak. Next to the back entrance there is another smaller patio, for service.
The third courtyard works as a key element in the relationship between home and the north side – it’s a slim space with a large horizontal opening that frames the landscape – it has an atmosphere of a “inner space outdoors”, the light is soft, by reflection on the outer wall that receives direct sunlight. This vertical courtyard communicates with a staircase that leads to an open terrace, the last element of the sequence of spaces, patios and atmospheres that go from more introspective and private to more open and outside.
images © FG+SG
