Villa Icaria

Recalling Étienne Cabet’s utopian proposal, the villa aims to establish a new relationship between the countryside and the city, creating a meeting point and an opportunity to fill the rural environment with modern urban activities. Its volumes intertwine with nature on the banks of the River Tagus, with solids and cavities that reflect this dual quality. Stone, rural organicism and shadows are combined with glass, light and synchronous space.

The plan of the building features two embraces, one for arrival and one for permanence, generating a small city articulated around two courtyard squares. These volumes alternate interior spaces of two types: those crossed by the landscape and those sheltered inside the stone volumes, capturing visual fragments.

Local stonemasons built the entire building, giving priority to local materials in a return to the essentials. The finishes are raw, including exposed concrete vaults, rustic plaster on the interior walls and polished concrete floors that connect with the rural logic.

Permeability, spatial continuity and intimacy accompany each other throughout the house. Ultimately, the house aims to offer an alternative to the city while remaining connected to it, creating a refuge where the hyper-connected technological activity of the 21st century can thrive.

The project encompasses several intentions, including the search for the best views of the river, the conservation of existing trees and an emphasis on sustainability and self-sufficiency, resulting in a holistic design that has a significant coherence.