The clients, an older couple with four grown daughters, wished to have a beach house for all of them, in a 23m beach-front solar. For that, their original idea was to have a seaside main house and a few adjoining bungalows to the back, so they were willing to sacrifice ocean view to the secondary bungalows in favor of the main house.
The architectural program called for four social areas with their respective services and 10 bedrooms. In addition there was a shared service and support area.
The extensive program and rich natural environment were the main motivations for the design process. Our efforts were applied to the task - unforeseen by the client as well as quite ambitious in a way – of giving each house a direct view to the sea. Following the same ideal, the design team took the challenge of arranging each bedroom so they all could enjoy an ocean view, considering even the future neighbors and all possible visual obstacles. In other words, diagonal views to the sea through the now uninhabited sides were not that complex, but might probably be obstructed by future buildings.
The extensive program and rich natural environment were the main motivations for the design process. Our efforts were applied to the task - unforeseen by the client as well as quite ambitious in a way – of giving each house a direct view to the sea. Following the same ideal, the design team took the challenge of arranging each bedroom so they all could enjoy an ocean view, considering even the future neighbors and all possible visual obstacles. In other words, diagonal views to the sea through the now uninhabited sides were not that complex, but might probably be obstructed by future buildings.
The work began by staggering each house along an imaginary Northwest to Southeast axis in such a way that every house had at least some ocean view and took advantage of the prevailing winds. In this system, each house had to overlap at least a portion of its program with the house immediately in front, so that part of the façade would be confronted by the back-side of the house in front. Using conventionally orthogonal volumes, the view would be a desolate and aggressive one.
From that point followed the idea of working with very fluid curved lines in the eastern extension of each house, such as the view from each social area and bedroom would slide gently towards the ocean. Each main bedroom has a major front to the sea, and the overlapping between curves generates visuals for the other rooms.
To the west, more curves were worked into the project gently leading to porches facing the sea that would serve as the main access to each house. The access to the main house is placed at the end of a very clear visual axis in the exterior layout. The porches also serve as wind tunnels that help control temperature in each terrace.
Smaller curves and concrete slabs are placed at different heights and places to redirect and take advantage of air currents so every interior space has a natural flow of air. Also the curves allow for privacy between social areas.
The formal language generates several interpretations of the inspiration regarding the contextual elements.
