Architecture is a setting for relationships—intimate relationships in the most private spaces, community relationships in defined spaces, and public relationships in the urban environment—and the design of this setting defines how people perceive it.

We associate the village with an image, a scale, a way of life, and a rhythm reflected in a spatial structure brought to life by the clarity of its response to everyday needs—a structure rich in models and solutions despite the limited range of materials and the enduring nature of its construction processes and systems.

The proposal for Aldeia da Roca is based on the spatial structure of the region’s villages—a structure that remains discernible in some cases even when these villages have been absorbed into a broader context—and seeks to organize the spaces according to the level of interaction intended for each one.

As in villages, the “public” space is intended to serve as the point of contact for all the houses and the starting point for the relationship with the clearly defined private space, where each house is recognized and identified by its unique position and volumetric composition, and where a harmony is achieved through a shared architectural language.