The House in Caniçada, designed by Carvalho Araújo, sits on the slopes overlooking the Caniçada reservoir in northern Portugal. The project is a transformation of an existing structure, using the original volume as a starting point and expanding it into a three-level home built to perform within a steep, heavily wooded site. It is a demonstration of how precise construction, minimal intervention, and strong structural clarity can shape an elegant architectural response.
The house is organized vertically across three floors. The top floor holds the most private areas of the home, where bedrooms and bathrooms are surrounded by glass walls and simple textile partitions instead of traditional opaque divisions. This choice creates a lightweight atmosphere that encourages visual openness while still offering privacy through layers rather than full enclosures. Below, the two lower floors are dedicated to social spaces. These levels open the house to the landscape, allowing daily life to unfold alongside the forest canopy and the water beyond.
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At the heart of the project is the middle floor, which contains one of its most important technical and spatial gestures: two large openings positioned on opposite façades. One faces the arrival path; the other frames the reservoir. This creates a clean visual axis running through the house, allowing light, air, and perspective to cross the volume uninterrupted. It is a structural and spatial device that connects the dense forest directly with the open water, giving the building a sense of permeability and orientation.
Materially, the house is defined by exposed concrete and expansive glass surfaces. The concrete shell provides a monolithic presence, ensuring structural stability while accommodating wide openings and long spans without visual noise. In contrast, the glass elements soften the volume, reducing its impact on the landscape and creating a fluid relationship between interior and exterior. The glass also helps lighten the building’s vertical composition, which could otherwise feel heavy on the sloping terrain.
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1. Heydar Aliyev Center – Zaha Hadid
1. Heydar Aliyev Center – Zaha Hadid
Landscape integration is a key aspect of the project. Almost all existing trees were preserved, and the building footprint was kept as compact as possible. The steep slope remains largely untouched, and external interventions are minimal, limited to essential paths and small terraces. This strategy results in a discreet house, nestled into the terrain and strongly connected to its natural surroundings. The architecture becomes a continuation of the site rather than an imposition on it.
Functionally and technically, the House in Caniçada represents a balance between solidity and openness. The exposed concrete provides durability and thermal mass, and the large glazed areas introduce lightness and expand the visual field. The house’s spatial logic, from the protected top floor to the open social levels, creates a clear experience of descending into the landscape. All elements, from structure to materials, work together to produce an efficient and highly resolved design.
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For OTIIMA, this project reflects many values central to our work: minimal frames that open large surfaces, clarity between structure and enclosure, and solutions that support architecture without overpowering it. Casa na Caniçada demonstrates how a combination of robust materials, detailing, and respect for context can result in a home that is technically rigorous and deeply connected to nature.
See the full project gallery here.
