In 2022, the Portuguese architecture office fala atelier, which has appeared on the pages of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui on several occasions (AA no. 447 ‘Europe, New Generation’ and AA no. 458 ‘The Art of Detail’, to name but the most recent), will complete a ‘house of countless windows’ in Lisbon. Organised around a central staircase, the house is divided into more levels than the façade suggests: the architects have used split levels to make the floor slabs between the windows disappear. Inside, there are no opaque partitions, but glass brick walls that divide the different spaces while maintaining a sense of openness. The whole structure follows a strict system of measurements and modules (20x20cm glass blocks, 30x30cm marble tiles, the façade grid, the repetition of doors, windows and balustrades), applied like a theorem. For the architects, the project is more like a ‘mathematical equation in physical form’ than a house, to be tamed by its occupants.

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Rachel Sablé

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Private house, Lisbon, Portugal

Programme: Construction of a house in Lisbon
Client: Private
Architects and consultants: fala (Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares, Ahmed Belkhodja, Lera Samovich, Joana Sendas, João Carlos Lopes, Kentaro Hayashi), Paulo Sousa (engineering), MP+PF (engineering), João Magalhães (landscape), OGC (contractor)
Site area: 360 sq.m
Gross floor area: 240 sq.m
Calendar: 2018–2022

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Visit falaatelier.com for more information about their work.