The owners, Micé and Eduardo Pinto Ferreira, specifically asked for a house with a minimal impact on its surroundings, as it is located in the Peneda-Gerês National Park, the oldest protected area in Portugal. No trees were cut down during the construction of the house. Also the specific site didn't allow for a footprint of the house to be larger than 60 square-meters. Its ingenious design, with a third of its length hanging over the hill, allowed for some flexibility in the actual square footage of the living area. It also brings the house closer to water and immerses the occupants in its beautiful surroundings. These amazing aspects of the structure remind us of Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright.
For more detail review of the house check out the Cool Hunter website.
Photos: The Cool Hunter
Jonya & Brad's Modern A–Frame 
Quick Cleaning Tip: Keep Baseboards Cleaner With Fabric Softner
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Profile Chair by Ma...
15 Essential Building Blocks for Quick Weeknight Meals
Summer Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
Comments (13)
Save Ferris!
i think it's awesome. i sometimes joke with people who aren't into modern design when they ask what kind of house i'd design for myself and say a concrete box. i wouldn't exactly, but this house is a amazing and is just that- a simple box. the position on the hill is great, looks a bit precarious, i like it though.
like living in a floating observation tower or something.
Amazake - thanks for the laugh!
Casa no Thankyou. I has the vertigo.
Yes-- this particular cantilever is most unpleasant.
I fail to understand the 60 sq meters prerequisite-- the space on the hill (cast in shadow by the cliffhanger) could accommodate a lower floor if the hill were built into.
I don't care if this house is structurally sound or not-- it 'feels' dangerous visually. Wrong and show-offy.
The first thing that popped into my mind was 'subsidence'.
Falling Water isn't structurally sound and has extremely serious water issues, but I digress.
The home featured is pretty and does the job of bringing the outside world into the home, but it seems that is all it is about. Kind of a one architectural trick pony...
Maybe after I retire this will seem pleasant, but I like a little bit more 'drama' in my home.
Second that, Almost AD!
I would like to visit before passing a judgment but my first instinct is that the ceiling are too low and the height too precipitous for my comfort.
This is an incredible house. I cringe to think of how much concrete, steel, re-bar, and post tensioning went into constructing it and the costs. Do the owners use that balcony?
I'm ready to move in. There's something soooo amazing about a cantilevered house!
this cantilevered effect seems unnecessary, and wasted, since there are no windows on the extended portion of the house to allow you to experience (or even notice) from the inside that you are floating out in the trees like that.
If I wanted to live in a box, it would have to be something like this, but with alot more glass.
At first I said, no way! But it's growing on me... that room in the treetops... I have practical concerns though. How is this possibly structurally sound?
A few years ago, my husband tried to talk me into an amazing modern fixer in the West Hills here in Portland. The space was amazing, and it would have been an incredible investment - except for the fact that it was perched on a dizzyingly steep hill.
I don't care if our simian ancestors felt safety in the canopy of the trees - it makes me anxious. Especially considering the history around here.