I remember a few years back taking serious notice of the huge wave of brilliant residential architecture coming out of Australia — a wave which shows no signs of slowing down. Over the past year or so I’ve noticed another such wave, this time emerging out of Portugal. The latest Portuguese project that has taken my breath away comes from Lisbon-based studio ARX Portugal Arquitecto and their beautiful “House In Juso”, a collaborative joint project with Stefano Riva. The 1,830 square-foot home was completed in 2009, and is located in teh village of Aldeia de Juso, just west of Lisbon in southwest Portugal. The following is an excerpt from a description courtesy of the architects themselves: “[Underlying the concept of the house is] the importance of ‘expanding’ the outdoor space becomes a particular central aspect, since it is also a building integrated in a semi-rural area, where people go looking for the experience of inhabiting garden or open yard spaces. Bearing in mind that by now the question of ‘limits’ and ‘precincts’ has become common-place, they appear here as being of utmost relevance. We [have maximized the width of the living quarters], both in the vertical and horizontal referentials, in both interior and exterior. [The home rises to its observatory terrace on the roof level, liberating] the eye over a 360º view of the surrounding houses, the sea, and the beautiful mountains of Sintra.”
