Casa Monte na Comporta in Grândola, Portugal is a house that sits
in its surroundings as if it had always been there yet it also manages
to look completely fresh, cool, new and spectacular.
The
house’s undulating shape echoes the gently sloping sand dunes, and its
hard and angular surface planes contrast beautifully with the rounded
shapes of the surrounding trees.
It has a bunker-like feel but it really does not look like a
bomb-shelter because the exterior is broken into smaller sections with
varying materials. The sky, the trees and the water in the pool provide
all the color. Tactile texture is everywhere, inside and out. Light and
shadow become the main players. The entire dwelling exudes organic calm.
Although it seems so, this house was not built into existing dunes. The
exact opposite happened. Luis Pereira Miguel and team at Lisbon-based
Pereira Miguel Arquitectos, built the dunes so that
they could situate the house under them.
Pereira Miguel
is a multi-disciplinary firm — architecture and interiors, commercial
and residential — that works with various collaborators in Portugal and
around the world. The seamless conversation between nature and house,
surroundings and building is a theme visible in many of the firm’s
projects but none as distinctively as in the Dune House.
The two crescent-shaped Barchan dunes that the architects created hide
the house under a road. Eventually, it will look like the sand, the
house and the wind have coexisted here forever. In a hundred years, it
may look like some secret hub of notorious infiltrators or perhaps it
will look more like a dwelling of friendly earthlings. Already the house
shows a delicious hint of ancient cave and that aspect is going to get
better and better after years of wind and weather action.
If you were able to look at the footprint of the house from the sky
(and you are not, because it is partly under the sand), you’d realize
that it consists of four slightly angled “arms,” almost like a wonky
letter X with each section housing a separate function.
From each section, the view and feel are different from the others.
With the constant action of the forces of nature, the view will also
shift year by year, season by season, inviting contemplation and
creating harmony.
Completed in late 2008, Casa Monte na Comporta in Grândola is, not
surprisingly, drawing attention. It will be featured on Portuguese
cable television this month and it will most likely be popping up in
many design and architecture magazines in the coming months. That
someone (other than me) is lucky enough to live in this house is almost
too much to bear.
from thecoolhunter
