NT05 Single Family House | Guifões
Single-family house
Client: Private
Area: 176.93 m2
Team: Civiplan- estudos e projetos, lda
Construction: to be determined
Contractualization: 2024
Prior notice
A refuge between urban walls
Located on a plot of land in Guifões, Matosinhos, this single-family house is based on a narrow plot of land to explore the idea of intimacy and containment. The couple who bought the plot were looking, above all, for a more controlled way of life, but without losing their connection to the city.
The project was thus born out of rigid urban planning rules and the desire to design a truly habitable place.
The contained front
The architecture that begins in silence
Between high walls and neighboring buildings, the house in Guifões is modest. The main elevation is austere, without prominence. A white, simple, unadorned volume. The entrance is revealed only by the recess in the wall and the door set into a light stone foundation.
The compact volumetry complies with the subdivision’s regulations, but removes the essentials from it: the limit and the rule as a starting point for designing freedom. It is an architecture of containment, which protects without isolating.
The habitable courtyard
Inhabited geometry
At the back, the design reveals its intention. The house opens up in transparency onto a wooden terrace, in a move that inverts the language of the front elevation. Here, outdoor living takes center stage.
The large window frames allow the living room, kitchen and garden to merge. The outdoor space is not an accessory, it is an integral part of the house – where you have lunch, spread out the blanket, watch the dog sleeping in the sun. Even on a small plot, privacy and comfort are not compromised. On the contrary: they are refined.
The habitable courtyard
Inhabited geometry
At the back, the design reveals its intention. The house opens up in transparency onto a wooden terrace, in a move that inverts the language of the front elevation. Here, outdoor living takes center stage.
The large window frames allow the living room, kitchen and garden to merge. The outdoor space is not an accessory, it is an integral part of the house – where you have lunch, spread out the blanket, watch the dog sleeping in the sun. Even on a small plot, privacy and comfort are not compromised. On the contrary: they are refined.
Interiors of light and silence
Serene Precision Architecture
Inside, everything is organized with precision. The floor plan is fluid but rational. On the first floor, the social area is a single, permeable plane, crossed by the light coming in from the back. The staircase organizes the vertical path without interrupting it. On the upper floor, the bedrooms face the garden, with generous but discreet windows.
The materials are serene: light wood, white walls, natural stone. The presence of the outside is constant, but always measured. The house breathes without showing off.
Project Gallery
Unique characteristics that set it apart
Set in a contained urban plot
Developed according to the constraints of the plot, the house draws value from its limitations, using the maximum volume allowed with formal clarity.
Blind main elevation, open back
A gesture of urban containment at the front, a gesture of openness and life at the back – two stages of the same intention.
Clean, natural materials
White plaster, sandstone foundation, minimalist window frames. The texture of the materials reinforces the design without overpowering it.
Fluid transition between interior and exterior
The wooden terrace extends the living room to the edge of the plot, allowing for true outdoor living in an urban environment.
Functional and rigorous organization of spaces
Direct circulation, clear hierarchy of private and social areas, clear design of a functional floor plan for this family.
