Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Year
2026
Category
Residential
Area
320 m²
01 — Introduction
Casa No. 08 sits on a narrow plot in the hills above Lisbon. The brief asked for a house that would feel private from the street and open to the sky — a place of retreat within the city.
The answer is a single-storey plan folded around a planted courtyard. Every room looks inward first, then out, borrowing daylight from two directions across the day.
The courtyard at four in the afternoon
Fig. 01
02 — Concept
The plan is organised as four simple volumes — living, sleeping, working, bathing — each turned slightly to catch a different hour of light.
Circulation runs along the courtyard edge, so moving through the house is always moving alongside the garden. Thresholds are deep; doors are few.
03 — Drawings
Scale 1:200
Ground floor plan — 01 Living, 02 Courtyard, 03 Sleeping, 04 Study
Section A–A — summer sun 76°, winter sun 28°
04 — Materials
Each was chosen for how it ages. None is sealed, lacquered, or disguised.
01
Lioz limestone
Quarried forty kilometres from the site. Honed on floors, bush-hammered on walls.
02
European oak
Oiled, never varnished. Used for all joinery, doors and the roof soffit.
03
Lime plaster
Hand-trowelled in three coats. It holds a soft, uneven light.
05 — Interior
Rooms are furnished sparingly. Built-in oak joinery does the work of furniture, leaving the floor to light.
06 — Information
Client
Private
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Completed
Spring 2026
Area
320 m² built · 540 m² plot
Scope
Architecture, interiors, landscape
Team
FORMA with local structural and landscape consultants
Next project — 02 / 06