This House Was Shaped by a Line of Water

Otiima House / Casa do Gerês, designed by Carvalho Araújo in Vieira do Minho, Portugal, does not begin with a formal idea.

It begins with water.

Before the house, there was already a stream crossing the site, descending a steep and unstable slope in the Caniçada Valley. An older structure, located higher on the land and exposed to small landslides, had to be demolished. The new house was moved down the terrain and reorganized around a different relationship with the slope, the water, and the landscape.

The stream is not treated as a garden detail. It guides the implantation, follows the path of the land, and eventually forms a small lake at the lowest level.

The house is built through a clear contrast: a heavier concrete base connected to retaining and topography, and a lighter wooden volume projected over the terrain. Concrete holds. Wood shelters. Glass opens the house to the valley.

This is a house about accepting the logic of the place.
About water, slope, risk, structure, and landscape.

Designer: Carvalho Araújo
Location: Portugal - Vieira do Minho
Project Year: 2013
Photos by: Hugo Carvalho Araújo, João Lopes Cardoso, Juan Rodriguez

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