Before Tiago Sousa's intervention, the exterior of Casa Arco was characterized by its wide openings and stone ornamentation, elements very typical of the Art Nouveau style. This led one to think that the interior would be similar, but the opposite was true: the interior spaces were small and dark, lacking the grandeur suggested by the façade.
Confronting this, the project used the arch as an artistic element that organizes the volume. Thus, a succession of interconnected and dynamic spaces is created on the ground floor, where a single area offers three distinct living moments. In the private areas, natural light oriented toward the north creates a serene atmosphere. The suspended staircase, clad in wood, follows the rhythm of the arches, consolidating the balance between memory and contemporary design.
Arch House by Tiago Sousa. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.
Project description by Tiago Castro Sousa Lda
The village house.
The village house is located at the top of the slope, above the village of Paredes de Coura Due to its location, shape and size, the house is a prominent element that imposes itself on the village experience.
It was built for commercial use – Pharmacy.
Elegant, large spans, decorated with stonework elements, such as jambs, lintels, among others. This house is different from the local architecture.
The location, the ornamental elements and the exterior proportions lead us to an image of a spatially refined house. It leads us to imagine spaces decorated with shapes and materials very much in the “Art Nouveau” style.
This imaginary, this dream in which we travel as we pass in front of the house, is not reflected in the interior.
The existing interior has monotonous, divided, small and gloomy spaces.
It consists of a central space, with high ceilings, facing north and south, but surrounded by four other small spaces to the east and west (bedroom, kitchen, sanitary installation, storage). These are connected directly by interior doors, which multiplies the routes and consequently conditions the habitation of the admittedly central/main space.
On the top floor, in the attics, two bedrooms and a storage space. The connection between them is made by a staircase, built between walls and of reduced size.
It is clearly an organization that grew out of need.
In these, without planning, without concepts, functionalist spaces, the protagonist is the man.
Soon the challenge arose!
The challenge came from the client, connoisseurs of culture, music and Design, especially lovers of “Art Nouveau” or “arts and Crafts”. Both understood that living in the house did not do justice to the object.
The project sought to harmonize space and form. It was the challenge of making the imagination come true!
Square, simple plan, with large openings on all sides. It sketches a design devoid of sensations.
Thus, through natural light, shadow and arch we establish a set of concepts that are reflected in our emblematic imagery. The arch appears in the memory of the use and shapes of the first project. It is an element of pure elegance. Through form, the arch, an element used in history as an element of art, we organize the space and create a new habitation and new sensations.
The ground floor, entrance floor, consists of a single space, subdivided by two arcades. This gives rise to 3 spaces for different uses. These elements allowed a single space to provide three interconnected but diverse moments of living – Kitchen, Living Room and Dining Room. Clearly these refined elements create an elegant symbiosis between form and function.
The upper floor consists of a central office, support room, sanitary installation and storage. On the lower floor, semi-buried, there are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry room.
On these floors, for private use, tranquillity reigns through natural northern light. A light, faint, constant, synonymous with serenity.
The connection between them is made by a concrete staircase covered in wood. It is a suspended and decorative element, which strictly matches the metrics imposed by the arches. It starts and arrives inside the arches.
The arch became the main element of the house.
It is the organizing element of the interior space as well as the exceptional element on the exterior (entrance marking).
This responds to the dream of “Art Nouveau” so often spoken in the client’s speeches.
Arch House.
