Villa Alfredo

Portugal

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Brunhais House

Villa Alfredo

Portugal

Firm

Rui Vieira Oliveira Arquitecto

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2025

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Villa Alfredo – Rethinking Urban Living
This house emerges from the ambition to rethink urban living, proposing a renewed dialogue between domestic space and the city. Rather than treating the urban context as an external backdrop, the project allows it to permeate the home, creating a continuous relationship between inside and outside while safeguarding privacy.
The site posed strict limitations: a narrow and deep 280 m² lot, designated for semi-detached housing, with only three available façades and a maximum footprint of 98 m². These constraints guided the design toward a vertical solution, where the house unfolds across three levels. The result is a spatial composition that feels open, fluid, and connected despite its compact footprint.
A central interior patio acts as the core of the project, ensuring vertical ventilation and the distribution of natural light across all floors. From the second level, this void rises and culminates in a rooftop terrace, offering panoramic views of the city. This gesture extends the house skyward and reinforces its dialogue with the urban fabric.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, when the domestic environment became synonymous with confinement, the project emphasizes the importance of re-establishing a meaningful connection with the outdoors. Light, air, and landscape are integrated as essential components of daily life.
Spatially, the house enhances perception of depth and continuity: from almost any point inside, it is possible to visually grasp the full extent of the plot. The ground floor opens fully to the garden and pool, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior. Private spaces on the upper levels maintain a sense of openness through visual permeability and framed views.
More than a formal exercise, Villa Alfredo suggests a way of living within urban density that preserves spatial dignity, openness, and a constant bond with the city.