Lisbon and Oporto-based architectural practice Empty Space Architecture have created another architectural gem Casa Godiva (Godiva House). Completed in 2012, for a disabled client the stunning home boasts plenty of eco-chic credentials and is located in Cascais, Portugal.
According to the architects: “The brief of the project was to create a contemporary and sustainable architectural object, where the easy living space associated with a constant dialogue ‘inside / outside’, gave rise to a dwelling designed for two users with reduced mobility.
“The ‘Godiva house’, fits in a rational architecture, where the accuracy of the design associated with the use of simple geometric, use of noble materials and new construction methods, giving rise to a dynamic architectural object where the accuracy of the construction detail and the artistic form derived from a method based on constant dialogue between form and function.
“In a terrain of triangular drawing, two rectangular volumes interconnected by a central quadrangular volume (pivot), are rotated according to the imposed limits by municipal rules alignments, materializing the drawing of a house.
“This architectural design is composed of three containers of different dimensions. The south container is designed to accommodate private spaces of the house (rooms and suites).
“This volume is torn in its south elevation, for an outdoor space for seating and circular, which has as main objective to create the frontier of the immediate contact (room / garden) since this is a ‘foyer’ in the open air. The north container receives the social spaces of the house (semi-public) composed of the main room, dining room and kitchen.
“This section of the property is torn by large spans, is dependent on the constant relationship indoor / outdoor, regardless of how direct or indirect it is to reach their spaces.
“The smaller central building, is the prime and principal element of all formal and spatial organisation of this architectural object. It is the hinge. It is the element of arrival and departure. He is the interconnection element of the low elevation to the high. He is the center of the building.
The set of spaces that formalize the ground floor as a whole are designed to accommodate all the equipment of treatment to which users are daily subjected (hydrotherapy pool, physiotherapy rooms) as well as space for receiving the complex mechanical equipment that this house is subject, to respond to the demands of a more sustainable way possible.
“The design of spaces that compose this architectural design is essentially a constant and ever- present dialogue between the interior and exterior spaces, where the nature of each one can reflect what he wants to be.
“The interior design function has ben combined with the exterior space of the garden, which is open directly or indirectly to suggest its own function. The garden is designed as if it were a set of interior spaces to relax or walk, without a roof.
“Natural light floods the interior spaces and is materializing and enriches the architectural piece, through a constant and interesting play of light and dark (light and shadow). This piece of architecture intended for living, reflects a very singular way of live by its owners.”
Images courtesy of João Morgado
