Residential
2023
Casa Sombra
A family house of thick white walls, built around the shade it casts rather than the views it takes.
Location
Sintra
Year
2023
Area
420 m²
Status
Completed
Coordinates
38.7984° N, 9.3876° W
(Notes) Project text
Drawings and photographs © Solyno Atelier. Photography in daylight only.
On a steep slope below the Sintra hills, the clients wanted a house that would stay cool without machines. We drew the shadow first: where it should fall at noon in August, and where it should retreat in January.
Mass, then openings
Walls are 600 millimetres of insulated masonry finished in lime render. Openings are few and deep, each one framing a single tree, a single piece of sky or the line of the Atlantic on a clear day.
Inside, a stair of white stone rises through the centre of the plan like a lantern. On summer afternoons it is the brightest and coolest place in the house.
Living with the seasons
Sliding timber shutters let the family close the house to the heat in July and open it completely in spring. Energy use is a third of a conventional new build of the same size.
Have a site in mind?
Tell us about it. We reply to every enquiry within two working days.