黑色房子丨葡萄牙丨M2.senos Arquitectos

In 2024, M2.senos Arquitectos designed the LBlack House in Matosinhos Municipality, Portugal. It features granite pavements and black brick facades. The home prioritizes openness with large courtyard-facing openings and maintains community presence with a street-facing railing.

Merging past and present

The LBlack House designed by M2.senos Arquitectos in the municipality of Matosinhos, Portugal, is located in a region where past and present merge. Old town centres coexist with new housing estates, with preference given to detached houses. Despite the urban transformation, there is still agricultural land in the area.

The project was designed for a regular plot with an L-shaped layout that forms a sunny courtyard. The aim was to give the space materiality and robustness, to connect it harmoniously with the street and at the same time to do without large walls as privacy screens.

Opening to the courtyard, presenting to the community

The design opens up the house to the courtyard with large openings that are connected to the outside area. Imperceptible from the street, it opens up to the community with a visible railing that limits but does not conceal its presence.

Granite, a stone typical of the region, is found in all the paving and surrounds the house, continuing in planters, benches and the pool. The black exposed brick emphasises the solidity of the house and at the same time appears defensive and expressive.

South-facing openings and spaces

All façades have strategic openings to the landscape. South-facing openings are treated like the main façade and are always protected from sunlight. This also includes intermediate spaces that are neither completely inside nor outside, such as the balconies of the bedrooms on the upper floor, which ensure comfort and privacy.

LBlack House offers a solution to the regional challenge of combining modern living spaces with traditional agricultural environments. It creates a harmonious balance between openness and privacy, integrating into the surroundings while maintaining a strong architectural presence.