Projetar na Paisagem: Casa Refúgio na Ilha de Santa Maria, Açores

Abstract

Although landscape and architecture have always been interconnected, there are some architects who have carefully explored the act of designing in particular landscapes and natural contexts, attaching buildings to the land or trying to follow the natural topography. The desire of individuals to inhabit spaces with exceptional views has been growing over the years, partly due to the saturation in the characteristic environment of cities. This dissertation defends the construction in landscape without modifying it too much or losing its character, without forgetting the need to balance the environmental comfort of the designed spaces with the protection of the surroundings. Therefore, in addition to the theoretical component, a project is prepared that demonstrates these principles, using as a reference some case studies that favor a way of developing a project that camouflages buildings in nature, which integrates and adds them to the land, but whose main focus is to build in a way that interferes as little as possible with the site and the landscape in which it is located. The project is developed in the Azores, on Santa Maria Island, due to its geological conditions and terrain set in peculiar landscapes.