Casa Madalena, designed by Paulo Martins Arquitectura is a detached house on the left bank of the Duero River as it passes through Vila Nova de Gaia, the nucleus of the wine sector in the district of Porto, in Portugal.

The project opens the social areas that comprise it to the outside through large glass openings, which enhance the relationship of the home and its inhabitants with their surroundings, maintaining privacy. The building appears after overcoming an almost opaque initial barrier that hides it, as a large projecting volume that is crossed only by a gap that reveals its depth, taking advantage of the privacy that the location offers.
The Paulo Martins Arquitectura work team develops the program on two floors, a lower one that responds to the desire to create a visual barrier between the living spaces and the street, and an upper one materialized by a loose and closed volume, which opens only to some private patios.

The house is presented to the outside as a solid volume in brown tones, which is protected from its perimeter environment by opening different patios that hide the private rooms. The project tries to enhance the relationship with the exterior on the west face, where the social area is presented in an opposite way to the rest of the program, opening it towards the garden.


Casa Madalena by Martins Arquitectura. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.
 

Project description by Paulo Martins Arquitectura

Composed of an overlapping of pure volumes, its arrangement corresponds to the desire of creating a visual barrier between living spaces and the street, allowing maximum privacy to be achieved.

In the initial moment, the upper volume marks and emphasizes the entrance, inviting to go beyond the almost opaque barrier, pierced only by a gap that denounces the depth of the plot and the house, at the same time reinforcing the intention of impermeability.


Casa Madalena by Martins Arquitectura. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.

After overcoming the initial barrier, the house reveals itself, in opposition to the outside, to be a wide and fluid space with a well-defined program, opening the social areas to the outside through large glass spans. With these openings, we wanted to promote and enhance the relationship between the exterior, facing west, and the interior, maintaining the privacy of the master suite through the creation of a patio.

On the upper floor, materialized by a loose and hermetic volume, there are two suites and an office, only open to private patios torn in the volume which, in addition to guaranteeing privacy, allow the glazed spaces to be protected from direct radiation.

More information

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Architects
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Paulo Martins Arquitectura. Lead architect.- Paulo Martins.
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Collaborators
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Engineering.- R5 Engineers.
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Builder
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Imocontviva.
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Area
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330 sqm.
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Dates
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2022.
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Location
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Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
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Photography
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Paulo Martins Arquitectura & Design is a Portuguese architecture studio lead by Paulo Martins. They focus on the experimental and strategic design. They make sensory and emotional experiences part of the process and an objective to be achieved, proposing spaces and objects that are aesthetically and formally stimulating and pleasant, always taking into account the requirements of the environment.

They propose a sustainable and hedonistic architecture. They develop both architecture and urban planning projects as well as product and interior design.

Paulo Martins (Aveiro, 1979) is an architect from ARCA-EUAC, Coimbra, Portugal. From 2003 to 2008 he worked in Barcelona, ​​Spain, as coordinating architect for the Ribas Arquitectes studio. He directed several outstanding projects such as the Laboratoris Esteve headquarters competition and the Institut Cefer competition.

In 2007 he obtained a postgraduate degree in eco-efficient architecture from Elisava_Escola Superior de Diseño and Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, ​​Spain. He currently runs his own studio in his hometown, Aveiro, Paulo Martins Arquitectura & Design.
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Published on: April 30, 2024
Cite: "A solid volume to avoid glances. Casa Madalena by Martins Arquitectura" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/a-solid-volume-avoid-glances-casa-madalena-martins-arquitectura> ISSN 1139-6415
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