Casa HC

ITS Ivo Tavares Studio

Casa HC – HC House

• Architects

This project comes with the order of a house with a conventional program to respond to the growth of the client's family. The working basis of the project is a program for a single-family house with 2 floors that responds to urban lifestyle, and a plot in expansion area of Aveiro, a portuguese seaside city. The implementation of the construction is conditioned by sun exposure, plot morphology and the street layout profile.

photo_credit ITS Ivo Tavares Studio — ITS Ivo Tavares Studio

The volume arises from the intention to turn the main spaces to the south, moving the complementary program to the north. On this side, where the house leans against the edge of the plot, the volume is narrow similar to the scale of the neighbors and, as you walk along the street, the true volume of the house is revealed. The aim is to read a regular and static volume surrounded by an exposed concrete belt. This plastic belt assumes the relationship with the plot's boundaries and provides a different reading depending on the angle of approach to the building.

At the same time that it is a balcony, pergola, and window-sill, this element has an aesthetic deconstructive function of the main volume, giving it weightlessness and scale control. The coatting with exposed brick, in color gray, brings the material closer to earth tones, framing the surrounding fields and highlighting the concrete belt.

The interior organization of the house is pragmatic and intuitive. At the back is the garage that allows access to the house through the main entrance and through the kitchen on a service path that crosses the laundry room. The entrance takes place alongside the garage. This point distributes to the social area, along the corridor, or to the intimate area up the stairs. The social area is made up of living room and kitchen that relate to each other, although they can be independent spaces. The exercise of closing and opening spaces seeks to make them more flexible and adaptable to new experiences/situations. Still on the ground floor, there is a service toilet and a room with flexible function. On the upper floor there are 2 bedrooms that share a balcony to the south, one commum toilet, and, to the east, the master bedroom with dressing area, toilet and a patio. This patio serves as an intimate space for the master bedroom and a way to light up the circulation spaces. The interior spaces have a permanent relationship with the exterior through windows, patios and porches. The chosen window's frame, galandaje system, realizes a good connection to outside without obstacles.

In the design of spaces, priority was given to materials and equipment of national production, such as facing brick, window frames, ceramics, toilet equipment and carpentry.

The energy behavior of the house is benefited by exposure to the sun, requiring active heating only in the 2 coldest months. This performance is assisted by a dual flow controlled mechanical ventilation system. During the hot season, solar incidence is controlled by the concrete belt that protects the ground floor windows and the external thermal blinds at 1st floor. The interior environment is renewed by cross ventilation.