Fonte Boa House by João Mendes Ribeiro

João Mendes Ribeiro has designed a single-family house located in a rural estate in Fartosa, Fonte Boa, in the center of Portugal. Called Fonte Boa House, the home, completed in 2015, measures 180m² (1,938ft²).

Reinterpreting the traditional single family housing typology, the house is a two storey rectangular volume with a zinc pitched roof, whose volume detaches itself from the slope with a concrete basement (occupied by a small wine cellar). From the street, the entrance is made through an opening in the stonewall that limits the south part of the site. The open garage, built below the terrain level, is enclosed by concrete walls, by the semi-underground concrete box that hosts the laundry room, and by the stairs that lead to the upper level where the house is located.

A succession of platforms leads to the entrance of the house, which is protected by a windbreak door. Inside, both floors are organized in three parts, with a core stairs and utility area that, on the ground floor, divides the dining from the living room and, on the first floor, separates the two main bedrooms. The communication between the two floors is made by a cabinet/staircase that reinforces the longitudinal direction of the house. All the interior spaces have a particular relationship with the outside, through a set of big openings or small windows that intensify, in very different ways, the connection that the house establishes with the landscape.

— João Mendes Ribeiro

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