'tâmega' house stretches horizontally across rugged terrain

‘Tâmega’ House by Hugo Mendonça Ferreira & Nuno Melo Sousa

Completed by Hugo Mendonça Ferreira and Nuno Melo Sousa. ‘Tâmega’ is a sculptural concrete house extending horizontally across a rough and lush terrain framing scenic views of the Portuguese landscape. ‘The plot was complex, immeasurable, without references, without alignments, no directions. […] From the trail that leaves the asphalt road towards the forest, we follow the topography that descends towards the river and jump between the rolling stones until we find a furrow marked by the passage of rainwater. It was the perfect deployment – far enough out of the way and placed between two stable heights,’ writes the duo.

image © José Campos

a sculptural volume with rich patterns and simple spaces

Reflecting the richness of the forested site, the monolithic structure reveals a striking and main horizontal concrete body supported by ‘veiny’ façades made with mortar and pine wood planks. This mix of materiality creates a thin and thick pattern pairing, a sort of framework for each layer composing the rugged landform: the river, the hill, and the quarry. Complementing the bold and gray design are blue-tinted openings, of varying sizes and widths, that punctuate the exterior shell.

image © José Campos

The ‘Tâmega’ house features a simple program: four bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a swimming pool, and a barbecue area. The architects added a concrete foot to serve as a staircase and structural base that divides the private spaces of the residence from the more public ones. Meanwhile, an elongated entrance introduces residents to a long corridor that meticulously frames the rocky massifs in a small reading area. ‘The room is long, facing the green of the land, with a large window that frames the Tâmega river and then dips into the pool,’ note Ferreira and Sousa.

image © José Campos