Artifice and nature

When we think of artifice, the material through which man humanizes the space around him, we cannot dissociate it from its real context. Set in steeply sloping surroundings in Gondomar, the architectural design for the building is marked by granite stone foundations and containment systems. As a result, it is established in continuity, both in terms of material and proportion.

Spatially, the river front presents various dissonances in terms of different scales. There is a marked volumetric heterogeneity accentuated by a confronting existing volume on one of the fronts of the plot.

As a result, the project's intention is to accentuate horizontality by integrating into the terrain, almost as if absorbed by it. On the street front at the top level, the artifice only announces itself, almost as if it were a small introduction, not revealing its true size. As we walk along the access until we reach the entrance, we get a glimpse of the volume and all its materiality. It's a project that is slowly revealing itself.

In turn, the building reveals itself more uninhibitedly to the landscape, letting its internal program be flooded by the living picture, taking on nature in constant dynamics.

It is, in fact, an architectural project that appeases the different concerns of Gondomar's surroundings. On the one hand, it tries to integrate the steep slope of the river, while at the same time declaring large glazed openings onto the landscape. Antithesis is a constant in architecture.

The dematerialization of volume...

Materiality and scale are articulated to ensure that the building has a predominantly horizontal reading. To this end, the lower volume houses the parking lot and its respective garbage disposal facilities and engine room.

The material used is stone, granite, ensuring continuity with the surroundings. On the remaining floors, exposed white concrete is used. Perimetrically to each apartment there is a reminiscence of granite, bringing texture and continuity to each block.

The recommended typology will be mostly three-bedroom apartments, with the priority being to open up the entire common area of the house to the river. The kitchen merges with the living room, maximizing space and lighting. Not only the living room, but also two out of three bedrooms face the river.

Internally, detail is a constant. Pivoting doors, wooden panels facing the vertical walls, different textures and materials are carefully studied so that everything works as a whole, where form and function merge into one. Coming soon to Gondomar.