Casa do Gerês is located on a steep slope in the Caniçada Valley where there was a small house and a stream. The existing building was located in an upper level of the land eventually liable to small landslides, which determined its demolition and the relocation of the new construction.

Everything starts from the existing waterline on the site. It is the origin and the justification of the project.

The “domestication” of the brook and the rugged topography, through the definition of small platforms and water pockets, allowed to structure a logic of functional organization of the site. At the same time, it is this restructuring that determines the relationship established between the natural elements and the new construction.

The proposal consists of a large horizontal platform that extends over the landscape and a vertical “L” earth retaining wall that thickens to accommodate all the service programs. The volume of the house is defined by a light structure that separates from the concrete elements and operates at the same time as a finishing and connection between the two planes (horizontal and vertical). The access to the house is made from the upper level, ensuring a full view over the site and over the building that fits on the ground like a rock. However, it’s inside the house where the visual range allows us to (re)discover the land below, characterized by the irregular stream’s route that results in a small lake at the lower level.

The materials used on the outside have been extended to the interior of the house, which does not seek a conventional program, but rather large, functional and multipurpose spaces, where pleasure and work coexist. The social space of the house assumes special relevance, materialized in a large central living room which extends to the outside through a large terrace. The kitchen and services are arranged on the same floor of the living room and the most intimate program comes at a second level, relating with the first one in the form of a mezzanine.