Casa da Árvore

Temporal Cycles

Casa da Árvore is the newest member of the family of narrow and long buildings on Rua Álvares Cabral in Porto. The project occupies a plot where a lush tree once camouflaged an old warehouse. The project evokes the memory of this tree, removed for the construction to advance deep into the plot.

The solution was to erect two distinct facades facing the street, leaving an open courtyard between them, anticipating the ground floor and hosting a new tree. The more scenographic tripartite facade, as is fitting on this Porto street, connects to the following, more open one through a set of balconies that “tie” the building to the street. The rear facade resumes the typical tripartite division of this typology, complemented by metal balconies.

The building has a spacious ground floor and four apartment floors, the last of which takes advantage of part of the roof's span. At the end of the wooded garden, a small two-storey house concludes the plot.

To situate the ensemble in its proper time, the construction is in exposed concrete of various colours and textures, contrasting with different ornamental elements in glass, ceramics, iron, wood, and marble. The most innovative aspect lies in the exterior concrete surfaces that incorporate recycled glass fragments as aggregates, which reappear in the building's skin after bush-hammering.

Casa da Árvore is, in every sense, a project made of temporal (re)cycles.