Renovation Countryside House Galamares

Located at the foot of the Sintra mountain range, along the bank of the Colares stream, this renovation project focuses on a farm in Galamares with a large half-hectare plot. The pre-existing single-family house dates back to the 1950s and is characterised by an architecture strongly influenced by the architect Raul Lino, in which all his stylistic romanticisms in the materialisation of this “Portuguese house” can be observed.
With three floors, the project changed the entire layout of the original house: on the ground floor, where there had once been agricultural facilities, the entire social layout of the house was set in direct harmony with the picturesque landscape of the mountains and with the sound of the small stream running through it. In the transition to the private setting of the house, on the two upper floors, a wide forked staircase in pine wood was created. Four suites and a dormitory were placed on these floors, which are distributed through a segmented corridor, where pine wood is once again applied to the floor and the access niches to the rooms. The use of pine wood thus generates a perception of material unity in every path established within the house.
The project also underwent a change in its elevations. Every opening, where architectural qualities could be found, was preserved: here their geometries, their heart-shaped bored doors and their original scarlet colour were kept. In turn, all other openings where these qualities were not observed were altered: their geometries were altered, mostly from chest-height windows to french windows, their stonework was removed and all and any preexisting romantic adornments were omitted.
A large covered outdoor area and a long swimming pool were designed on the ground. The first, with a skillion roof in roman tiles, was achieved perpendicular to the house and at the edge of the farm's land, through a structure with two large arches open to the entire new garden. The pool is positioned at the height of the grass like a mirror, which runs parallel to the stream, reflecting the picturesque atmosphere of the farm as a whole: with its house, its garden and the imposing mountain rising from the foothills.

Sintra - Portugal
2017