filipe paixao designs a stone wall house for fernando pessoa

filipe paixao designs a stone wall house for fernando pessoa
all images courtesy of filipe paixao

evoking the image of a ruin embedded in the landscape, the design of ‘a stone wall house’ by portuguese architect filipe paixao is based on the imagination of one of portugal’s greatest modernist writers fernando pessoa (1888-1935). the artist was renowned for creating different pseudonyms and writing personalities, each with their own backgrounds and characteristics. the challenge was to provide a home for a poet that is at the same time several – a place in which to read, write and think through four distinct realities. following the natural topography of the land, a raised stone wall folds around itself to form a surrounding garden open to the sky. the wall itself is thick enough to contain the necessary habitable areas with four unique dwellings distributed throughout the folding structure. during his life pessoa created dozens of writing personalities, but the three most significant ones were alberto caeiro, álvaro de campos and ricardo reis – each of the rooms vary in dimension, geometry and light according to the unique personal traits.

view of the garden

fernando pessoa’s writing room

alberto caeiro’s writing room

álvaro de campos’ writing room

ricardo reis’ writing room

ground floor plan

section 1

section 2

section 3

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