Casa nao casa

Model photo.

Project Details

• Project Name: Casa nao casa
• Client: Corte real-empreendimentos turisticos e experimenta design 2005
• Project Type: Housing
• Principal Designer/s: Pedro Campos Costa
• Design Team: Ivan Teixeira and Alessia Allegri
• Location of site: Montijo-Lisboa
• Site Area: Sarilhos Pequenos
• Built-up Area: 180 m2
• Cost of Construction/Execution: 750 Euros / sq. m.

Model photo.

Words from the architect

"The mirror has no memory, and cannot retain an image unless it is applied to its surface. And, unlike the photographic negative it is incapable of multiplying the image reflected in its surface - unless that surface is fragmented and its integrity destroyed." - Robert Hopper

Model photo.

Patio housing is a paradigm of Mediterranean architecture. But what was initially very clearly related to the climate, morphology and culture of a region, with time has set itself free from these conditions through new construction technologies, new materials, new customs and cultural habits. The patio became, an element of easy exportation reaching even the ice-cold Scandinavia, where the Patio Housing by John Utzon in Fredensburg, Denmark, and the Muuratsalo House by Alvar Aalto, Finland, are striking examples.

Model photo.

More than a mere cultural reflection or the identity of a region, the patio typology has come to represent a special quality and the relationship with the outer world.

Concept Sketch.

The Casa nao Casa creates a patio which is the centre of the house. Upstairs, the rooms that look down onto the tree-top and the green body below; and downstairs, the rooms that are directly related to the earth. The uncovered patio also works as a link between bedrooms and living rooms.

Facade rendering.

The facade is the skin involving the house. It is related to the exterior and defines the perimeter of that which is inside and that which is outside. The Casa nao Casa has in the module of its facade the pretension of creating both a relationship with the exterior, the composition and energy. Through mirrored surfaces, the facade reflects the environment, thus creating a mimetic relationship. Its shape is the basis of the motive of composition and its photovoltaic panels solve the energy issue.

Facade detail.

Nowadays, the use of photovoltaic panels in buildings not only is possible but it also allows for an attractive recovery of the investment made. The law 33A/2005 finally makes it possible to have a connection to the public electricity supply system. The law dictates that one can sell the energy produced at a higher price than the market value. After some years, the house pays itself. The Casa nao Casa is no longer a merely speculative investment; instead it becomes a source of revenue with surplus value for the environment.

Payback Diagram.

The Casa nao Casa hides itself behind mirrors. Beak-shaped mirrors that don't always reflect what one sees. It lengthens, mimics, disguises, copies, hides but deforms.
Despite the impossibility of retaining an image in a mirror, we turn to mirrors to see ourselves. To see what we look like. The image we then have of ourselves is not retained, it probably isn't real, but it is a reflection and it is the image that helps building our identity.

More photographs

Plan level 0.

Plan level 1.

Concept Diagram.

Credits

• Text and Photographs by Pedro Campos Costa
• Renovable enegies - Fotofoltaics: Maria Joao Rodrigues
• Model: Marco Galofaro - MODELAB
• 3d: Hugo Fernandes, Marco Madruga