My dream house

My dream house in the city I live is right in its center.

Centrally located, it will be decentered in relation to the busiest streets. The house will also have some space around it. It may perhaps be located in a small square or plaza. It will be possible to leave the house walking and quickly get to the subway, find shops, restaurants and cafes open all day, anytime. And gardens. In fact, for the dream to be complete, the house will have a small walled garden, where a large old deciduous tree will remind us of the season we are in and will make us feel the passage of time. A fountain of running water made of crudely finished stone blocks will gain patina as we age, muttering a crystalline solid rumor. A sunburned wooden deck, adjacent to the living room, will invite us to celebrate Lisbon’s hot summer nights with unforgettable dinners. And a very carefully kept tiny garden will allow us to feel the fresh grass growing under our bare feet. A luxury.

It will not be possible to categorize my dream house according to the typology. Compartmented on the one hand, but with great fluidity of space, on the other, it will not easily show the boundary between social and private areas. If it will have the dreamed size, it will be flexible enough to fit the needs of its inhabitants in each stage of their lives, varying the size and configuration of the private area, using retractable panels and walls.

Therefore, it can’t be too obvious, will have to have some complexity and the ability to surprise me every day. To me and to visitors who will hesitate, as if momentarily lost in there, fact that will always cause me a small, almost invisible smile of satisfaction. A maze of rooms, suggested labyrinth.

Being quite old, the house will be impeccably renovated, keeping only the most interesting elements of the original construction. A delicate and elegant refurbishment, aware of the past but with eyes in the future. Simultaneously ancient and contemporary. Basically, the best of both worlds. With high ceilings, will have somewhere a room with an even higher ceiling, catching the light from the top all the times so that we will always look up while passing by. And a mezzanine with a small office. A large wide window opened to the west, over the city, will reveal, in its background, the Tagus river. It will have broad and varied light to flood the white walls and warm up the floors made of large wooden boards. And it will be comfortable. Cool in the summer and mild enough in the winter to be hardly necessary to connect the heating system. I won’ t need air conditioning at all.

This is my dream house. How is yours?

2011