The home designed by Portuguese architectural studio Oval is located in Brufe, in northern Portugal, on an almost flat lot surrounded by a water line running along the west side of the property.

"Casa em Brufe" is located in the countryside, surrounded by lawns, a road, and a pre-school. The project does not face the street and its courtyard is where the volumes are defined and overlooked.
Oval composed the "Casa em Brufe" in two parts, a higher one where the common areas of the house such as the living room, the kitchen, and the entrance are located and a lower one with four bedrooms, a laundry, and an office, all arranged in a row.

The main protagonist of the house is the courtyard, which can be accessed through various points and through large 6-meter-wide glazing that slides on a metallic support. These large windows are what create the communication between the interior and the exterior.


Casa em brufe by OVAL. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.


Casa em brufe by OVAL. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.



Casa em brufe by OVAL. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.
 

Description of project by Oval

The house was intended to be ground floor. The land is almost flat and has a timid water line that borders the property to the west. The surroundings are marked to the south by a natural, continuous space as if it served as a backdrop for a long lawn. To the north, the well-kept main road is directly opposite a pre-primary school building.

The housing is neither hidden nor facing the street. Its patio is the focal point of the volumes, it defines and defines itself.

The set is composed of two parts, a taller one representing the most public areas of the house, the entrance, the generous living room and the kitchen (with pantry).

The lower volume, facing the east side, organizes four rooms, a laundry and an office, all arranged in a row.

Basically, like a piece by Giacometti, there are two boxes connected by an empty space in which each one represents its home, one more open and public and the other more domestic and private.

The patio spaces will be more important than the ones built, as these are the elements that make the housework. The glazing, 6 meters wide, slides only with mechanical support – it opens up for the family's special moments and turns the house into an open space merged with the quadrangular patio. At the same time, this large glazing when opened creates a mini enclosed patio adjacent to the pantry.

All the openings of the volumes seek a language in which the notion of the window as an element of interior-exterior relationship is assumed. In the bedrooms, the need for seclusion led to the creation of a horizontalized wooden skin, which reinforces the grammatical exercise of a house that intends to be modern but contaminated by a search for fluidity and coherence in the architectural language.

More information

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Architects
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OVAL (Main Architect.- Avelino Oliveira).
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Collaborators
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Engineering.- OMEGA.
Engineering supervisor.- Jorge Fernandes.
Interiors Team.- Asil.
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Builder
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Moreira Sampaio, lda.
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Dates
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2021.
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Location
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Rua António José Brandão, Brufe, Portugal.
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Photography
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OVAL has been active in Portugal since 1993 in the field of design, construction projects and planning. Avelino Oliveira is the main architect in charge of the studio.

OVAL has protocols with the University of Porto through some research centres and with the Fernando Pessoa University with its Laboratorio de Projetos (LEP).
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Published on: September 14, 2022
Cite: "The garden as a focal point of the house. Casa em brufe by OVAL" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/garden-a-focal-point-house-casa-em-brufe-oval> ISSN 1139-6415
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