Fornalha House

The clients bought a ruin with a kiln in the garden. We kept the kiln and planned the house around it, one room deep, so every room looks at it.

The site in Porto set the terms before we drew anything. A narrow plot, a west slope and one object worth keeping. The plan is a bar with a terrace cut into its corner.

Bedrooms face east for morning light. The kitchen takes the west end and opens straight onto the terrace.

We worked from a 1:50 model for most of the design stage and kept it on site through construction. Where the model and the drawings disagreed, the model usually won.