© Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

架构师提供的文本描述。瓦拉托霍大厦位于葡萄牙托雷斯韦德拉斯市东边的一座山上。

Text description provided by the architects. The Varatojo House is placed on a Hill, east from the city of Torres Vedras, Portugal.

该设计以多角形构形图为背景，考虑到太阳的曝晒(主要是北/南)和主要的北风方向，首先考虑到下列问题：

Set in a polygonal configuration plot and given its sun exposure (predominantly North/South) and also its main Northern wind direction, the design strategy began by considering the following issues:

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

促进建筑与景观的关系，利用该地区俯瞰城市、城堡和周围环境的优势；

Promoting relationship between building and landscape, taking advantage of the place's overlooking position over the city, castle and surroundings;

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

鼓励住宅和花园之间有很强的互补性，以便在内部和外部、建筑和自然要素之间建立一种强烈的视觉关系；

 Encouraging a strong complementarity between the house and the garden in order to create an intense visual relation between the inside and the outside, between construction and natural elements;

营造北侧(景)与南侧(内园)之间的横向关系，主要通过底层的水池和园林的地块进行造型；

Creating transversal relations between the North Side - (view) and the South side - (inner garden) mainly through the pool on the lower floor and modeling land of the garden;

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

回收材料，如木桩墙(前铁路枕木)，从通常使用和认为是材料的方式中引入某种实验主义和创新；

Recycling of materials such as the walls of wooden pilings (former railway sleepers), introducing a certain experimentalism and innovation from the way the material is usually used for and thought to be;

鼓励在花园里使用当地的植被。

Encouraging the use of native vegetation in the garden.

 Floor Plan

设计理念：

Design Concept:

这座房子的形状是螺旋形的，意图利用情节轮廓。

The house is shaped by a spiral gesture intending to take advantage of the plot outline.

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

我们选择了建造一个极限，一种逐渐形成形状和厚度以适应住房计划的线路。

We opted for the construction of a limit, a kind of line that gradually takes shape and thickness to accommodate the housing program.

这个手势开始于通往停车场的横冲直撞的通道，结束在房子的另一边，在此时达到两层楼高，从而房子的轮廓也加强了这种“螺旋式的姿态”。

This gesture starts with the ramped access to the lot and ends on the opposite side of the house, achieving at this point two-stories high, thereby the contour of the house also reinforced this "gesture in spiral".

采用的设计策略使我们能够在场地的南侧创造一个居住空间，免受北风的影响，这迫使北侧的主要建筑得以存在。

The adopted design strategy allowed us to create a living space on the site’s south side, protected from the strong Northern winds, which forced the existence of the main construction on the north side.

 Floor Plan

从功能的角度来看，程序分布在三层。

From a functional standpoint, the program is distributed in three floors.

底层集中了大部分程序。

The groundfloor centralizes most of the program.

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

这里有公共区域-厨房、客厅和餐厅-限制在一个单一和连续的开放空间，增加了天花板计划。另一方面，房间的侧翼(有更多的限制进入)包含客房和儿童的房间，由一个游戏室/学习室隔开。

There is located the common areas - kitchen, living room and dining room - constrained to a single and continuous open space, enhanced by the ceilling plan. On the other hand, the rooms’ wing (with a much more restricted access) contains guest and children's rooms, separated by a playing/studying room.

 Floor Plan

一楼是主卧室，有一个朝北的深阳台，南面有一个浴室，它的背景是一个大窗户，面对一个小花园。

On the 1st floor is located the master bedroom with a deep balcony facing North, and on the South, there is a bathroom with a big window facing a small garden as its background.

仍然在这层楼有一个图书馆，一个阁楼空间以上的生活空间。

Still on this floor there is a library, a mezzanine space over the living space.

在较低的楼层，游泳池是中央空间，通过那里可以连接北景和南私家花园，也可以欣赏水中的反射景观。

On the lower floor the pool is the central space through where it is possible to connect with both north sights and south private garden, and also to enjoy the reflected landscape on the water.

材料选择：

Material Options:

一方面，我们选择使用传统材料和涂层，例如胶凝材料、石膏、木材和软木；另一方面，我们从铁路枕木传统使用的独特逻辑出发，考虑再利用铁路枕木，在寻找材料使用的新可能性方面引入了一些创新和试验。

On one hand we opted for the use of traditional materials and coatings, as exemplified by the cementitious materials, plaster, timber and cork, and, on the other hand, we considered the reuse of railway sleepers within a distinct logic of its conventional use introducing some innovation and experimentation in the search for new possibilities of materials’ use.

因此，我们建议从目前和传统建筑的新解释，通过设计，但也通过材料选择。

Thus we suggest new interpretations from the current and traditional construction, through design but also through material options.

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩

植被：弹性与可塑性

Vegetation: Elasticity and Plasticity

定义一个小栎林。布罗特罗(葡萄牙橡木)，种子植物地理协会，在那里的地块。天然植被(树木、灌木和草本植物)的优势选择利用了场地土壤和气候特征，创造了一个融入该地区景观的生态系统(Genius轨迹)。

Define a grove of Quercus faginea subssp. broteroi (Portuguese oak), seeded the phytogeographic association where the plot is located. The dominant choice of native vegetation for the garden (trees, shrubs and herbaceous) takes advantage of site soil and climate characteristics, creating an ecological system integrated into the Landscape of the Region (Genius loci).

在北山坡上，一片Kermes橡树灌木丛出现在石灰石基质中。在风的作用下，Kermes橡树灌木丛中主要的植物有Quercus cocifera和Mast(Pistacia Lentiscus)，它们与各种物种联系在一起，如：地中海沙棘(Rhamnus Alaternus)；亚麻叶达芙妮(Daphne Gnidium)；松叶岩玫瑰(Cistus Salvifolius)；卢西坦峡谷(Udensus)；粗糙的银合欢(Smilax Aspera)和金银花(Lonicera Etrusca)。在庇护的南侧，出现了葡萄牙橡树和乔木灌木，如罗布斯丁(Viburum Tinus)、单种子山楂(Crataegus Monogyna)、月桂(Laurus Nobilis)和草本植物(Bearr‘s Bearches)(Acanus Mollis)和黄色虹膜(Iris Pseudacorus)。

On the North hillside, a Kermes oak shrubland, appear in a limestone substrate. Exposed to the wind, the Kermes oak shrubland have as main actors the Quercus coccifera and mastic (Pistacia lentiscus) that associates with various species such as: the Mediterranean buckthorn (Rhamnus alaternus); the Flax-leaved Daphne (Daphne gnidium); the Sage-leaved Rock Rose (Cistus salvifolius); the Lusitanian gorse (Ulex densus); the Rough bindweed (Smilax aspera) and the Etruscan honeysuckle (Lonicera etrusca). On the sheltered South side, arises the Portuguese oak with arborescent shrubs like Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus); the single-seed Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna); the Laurel (Laurus nobilis) and herbaceous like Bear`s breeches (Acanthus mollis) and yellow irises (Iris pseudacorus).

 © Richard John Seymour

理查德·约翰·西摩