Derived from the Latin "FLUMEN", meaning “river,” the name of the project reveals its essence from the outset: a house shaped by the powerful and poetic presence of the Douro River. Set on an 800 m² plot in Gondomar, Porto district, FLUMEN House unfolds across 600 m² of construction distributed over three levels, embedded in a steep and challenging topography.

The site offers a striking panorama over the Douro, a landscape perceived through two distinct readings: one defined by the clear parallelism with the river’s southern bank; the other more intimate and enigmatic, revealing in depth the serpentine path traced by the water. This duality, between clarity and mystery, became the driving force behind the architectural concept.

Following the organization of the program — with the entrance level hosting the social areas and garage, the upper floor accommodating four bedrooms (three suites and a master suite with walk-in closet), and the lower level opening to the garden through an office, games room and lounge, the intention emerged to transform the relationship with the river on each floor.

The solution is born from a single yet defining gesture: a TWIST between the three levels. Each volume is gently rotated in relation to the one below, generating three orientations and three distinct viewpoints over the Douro. This movement not only reshapes the spatial experience, offering a new perception of the river with every change of floor, but also creates balconies, covered terraces and outdoor spaces formed by the interplay and overlap of the volumes.

FLUMEN House thus asserts itself as an architectural piece that echoes the very nature of the river: fluid, shifting and continuously revealing.

The concept behind the project was to create different perspectives of the river from inside the house. By rotating the planes and volumes, we sought strategic alignments that would create different light inputs into the house, as well as different visual relationships with the surroundings, characterized by the view of the river.

The movement of the volumes that represent the different floors aims to dematerialize the body of the house, making it lighter and more dynamic. It is reminiscent of the herons that fly over the waters of the Douro River.