The Louro House is a Mediterranean house under the severe Alentejo sunlight.
The house is located in a new neighbourhood in Grândola, a village in Alentejo, south of Lisbon. The house is turned outside in, through different patios and verandas to protect the house from the exterior’s intensity of the sun. These several patios also bring natural light and ventilation to the circulation spaces of the house.
There are mainly three different materials and textures linked to the several spaces of the house: concrete, as a solid material that carves the house from the ground; white plastered surfaces define all the interior volumes and are overlaid to the stone base; and the wood screen that covers all the upper level and filters natural light into the more private areas the house. This wood screen is also a sun shading device as some parts can be opened towards the garden to introduce certain diversity in the way the future residents can appreciate the relationship between the house and the immediate landscape.
The ground level is set 1.80m above the street level and hosts all the public areas of the house. The living room is an area that can be completely opened to the exterior – Garden and pool. The upper level is the private area of the house where the main distribution corridor overlooks to the dining room and the two opposite patios at the end of this distribution space.
