We found information about a modern and interesting weekend house on the Azores in Portugal, recently completed by N2X Aarquitectos. Located in Lugar da Ribeira da Praia în San Miguel, the largest island of the Azores, is a special place: it has breathtaking views of the ocean and is surrounded by lush vegetation. According to the press release the architects started from an unusual context, as this plot housed some ruins at a higher location, naturally kept apart from the surrounding lower agglomerate with which it apparently dialogs and which we then designated as “village”. The project’s idea is to “fill” the physical emptiness existing in these ruins by constructing two related modules that overlap each other and are similar to one another material-wise, but that differ in their limits, making evident the construction principle based on the loose and mismatched stone of the ruins and its surrounding walls.
A privileged view over Vale da Ribeira and the ocean, its sunny location and the environmental and landscaped components are what makes this construction respond to a significant amount of elements that together create is sustainability, via use of solar energy, rain waters for watering and reservoir filling and for an acoustic and thermally-controlled construction. [Fotos: José Maria Oliveira]
