The house by Pedro Domingos, with its hermetic appearance shielding the interior spaces, is set within the landscape like a contemporary ruin, establishing a timeless dialogue with the site. Its seamless integration with the surroundings allows it to blend in, almost unnoticed. At the same time, it creates a spatial sequence of interiors shaped by an interplay of light, shadow, and materials, endowing the domestic spaces with a contemporary character reminiscent of a palace.
The Frame House is organized longitudinally from east to west, maximizing sunlight while being shielded from the south by a thick wall. The various rooms—including the master bedroom, entrance patio, kitchen, living room, and solarium—are interconnected in a way that allows for a fluid, sequential experience, as if forming a single, timeless space.
Frame House by Pedro Domingos. Photograph by Francisco Nogueira.
Project description by Pedro Domingos
The house is built in the Barrocal landscape between the sea and the Algarve hills.
A single parallelepiped volume set on the southern edge of the plot emphasises the relationship between the house and the landscape. To the west, one can reach the town of Santa Bárbara de Nexe and to the south, the city of Faro and the sea. The house frames the landscape, selecting the most interesting views.
This main volume of the house is limited to the south by a thick wall that protects the main spaces, and to the north, a set of three smaller protruding volumes, containing the staircase, the kitchen storage and the master bedroom's bathroom, cut out and prepare the arrival at the house. The entrance is through a courtyard within the main volume.
A sequence of interconnected spaces organised from east to west defines the main living spaces of the house: main bedroom, entrance patio, kitchen, living room, solarium and swimming pool. On the lower ground, there are three additional bedrooms.
The kitchen, with its suspended skylight, an inverted "diamond", is the central space of the house. In the living room, a fireplace built into the thick wall where one can sit, offers a different kind of space with a smaller scale. Light and shade are carved out by patios and skylights throughout the house.
A concrete monolith in its raw state reinforces the harshness and scarcity of the landscape, aiming for continuity.
The atmosphere of the house is marked by the strong presence of the concrete in contrast to the steel elements: windows, doors and cupboards. The water spaces: pool, kitchen, washbasins and showers are built in massive white marble stone.
The character of a ruin in the landscape, as if it had been there for a long time, is understood in the approach to the house from the territory, where at first glance one can only see the exterior and void spaces that protect the inhabited spaces.
The generous size of the spaces and their linear organisation evokes the idea of a contemporary palace that culminates to the west in the pool. A Water Room that softens the relationship with the Mediterranean Climate.
