Between Rigour, Order and Sobriety*

Project: 1998/2001
Location: Maia, Porto, Portugal
Architectural project: João Álvaro Rocha
Collaborators: Alberto Barbosa Vieira, Francisco Portugal e Gomes, António Luís Neves, João Ventura Lopes, Pedro Tiago Pimentel, Sónia Campos Neves
3D model: Armando Teixeira
Structural engineering: Rui Fernandes Póvoas
Plumbing systems: Vasco Peixoto de Freitas
Electrical systems: António Rodrigues Gomes
Mechanical systems: Paulo Queirós Faria
Landscape architecture: Manuel Pedro Melo, João Álvaro Rocha
Furniture and interiors: João Álvaro Rocha
Photography: Luís Ferreira Alves
Client: Municipality of Maia, Porto

The Quinta da Gruta project is part of a large urban redevelopment plan located just north of the city of Porto.

At the centre of an old rural area, which has since become a suburb, stands a small yet interesting building constructed in the early twentieth century.

The rapid expansion of the city and the transformation of the territory require obsolete spaces to be converted into new forms of centrality. The case of Quinta da Gruta becomes part of a development programme aimed at accompanying these inevitable changes through the creation of new services.

With this project, João Álvaro Rocha aims to go beyond simple restoration, reshaping spaces and functions through a contemporary language while maintaining the rural memory of the site. In essence, the goal is to re-establish a balance between old and new, between large and small, between public and private.

The elegance and sobriety of the intervention conceal an in-depth study in the selection and application of materials and rules: in every seemingly empty space, an object or piece of furniture is placed to enliven the various visual perceptions without drawing attention away.

Whether subtly or overtly, Rocha uses steel both for its strength and durability and as a refined aesthetic component. A good example is the building’s window frames, made of steel angle bars masterfully concealed within the masonry, or the slender shelves of the library which, thanks to a hidden frame within a plasterboard wall, achieve a thickness of just a few millimetres.

The transition between the two floors of the villa occurs via a staircase discreetly placed in an open space free of obstructions.

Along the slender tubular handrail, one ascends the thin steps leading to the granite block on which the staircase rests. The decisive playful gesture is the introduction of a small, fully steel-made removable box that serves as the first step, juxtaposing rigidity, slenderness, and movability.

The area dedicated to the sanitary facilities is yet another skilful example of the use of stainless steel: an apparently solid wall conceals two steel doors with a mirror positioned between them. Taps and fittings are designed and crafted in stainless steel.

Tables, chairs, cupboards, and doors, designed specifically for the villa, either reveal or conceal this unconditional use of steel, intended on the one hand to highlight the artisanal nature of the work, and on the other to pursue a modern and technological expression.

Particularly striking is the auditorium “box,” which projects the ancient silhouette of the villa into the future.

The structure is supported by large steel U-profiles embedded within the thickness of the walls. The interior is clad in wood, while the exterior consists of aluminium sheets and steel bars, reflecting the clear intention to produce a “metal box” with a distinctly high-tech appearance.

The interplay of transparent and opaque surfaces is echoed in an almost “contradictory” logic in the volume containing the meeting room on the upper floor and the entrance on the ground floor. In this case, the complete transparency of the glass and the massive granite structure serve as a link between past and present.

The box is a recurring theme in the project, reinterpreted in countless ways even in the small objects scattered throughout the garden. Stone blocks serve as benches, neatly squared steel parallelepipeds become waste bins, and even the lamp post is made from a simple square-section profile.

There are also trees whose roots are contained within large steel cylinders.

The greenhouse, with its delicate form, hides behind the opacity of its glass a composite structure of iron tubes, ties, and steel tension rods.

The juxtaposition of old and new, of artisanal and technological, appears to be one of the hallmarks of Rocha’s architectural language, and in this context steel consistently acquires an exemplary role.

*text published in Acciaio Arte Architettura n. 14, Auge Editore, Treviso.