PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Set on the northern bank of the Ave River overlooking Santo Tirso, the MTMG House occupies a 13,750 m² promontory once bearing only mature oak trees and a small stewards' ruin, cleared and preserved to mark the new entrance. The ambitious brief called for an indoor pool, a rest floor facing the dawn over the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Assunção, and total transparency.

The design grew from a folded sheet of cardboard laid over the terrain, tested by hand for sightlines, shading, and shelter. That fold became the house's logic: cantilevering over the bedrooms, turning north into a blank façade, forming the ground-floor roof slab, then cutting open the patios and pool façade.

An early Roman-atrium scheme was rejected in form but kept in spirit - a central courtyard now links the kitchen, laundry, garage, living areas, guest room, gym, and pool.

Measuring 33 m by 28 m and entered from the north, the house's 590 m² ground floor holds a glass-enclosed four-car garage, an accessible guest bedroom, and the indoor pool and gym; its 212 m² upper floor holds three south-facing bedrooms opening to a roof terrace.

Restored native vegetation shelters the grounds, and the structure is reinforced concrete, externally clad in rock wool and lime render, with plasterboard walls and ceilings inside.

DESIGN CONCEPT:

The design concept began with a sheet of white paper placed over the terrain, then folded, cut, and reshaped to explore orientation, shading, and shelter. Through this iterative process, the project evolved as a single continuous folded surface.

A cantilevered volume emerges to protect the entrance, while the roof slab of the first floor is generated by a continuation of the same fold; additional cuts define the central courtyard and the façade of the indoor swimming pool.

The first floor (590 m²) includes a transparent, glass-enclosed garage for four cars, a fully accessible guest room, and an indoor swimming pool with a gym. The upper floor (212 m²) is composed of three bedrooms oriented to the south, with access to the rooftop terrace.

At the centre of the plan, the courtyard is a contemporary interpretation of the Roman atrium and impluvium, visually connecting every family space. It draws natural light into the interior, enhances cross ventilation, and functions as the social core of the house - the point around which domestic life gathers.

Externally, a landscape strategy promotes ecological recovery around the site's perimeter, using native species to protect and regenerate the garden and the surrounding agricultural land.

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