Double O Studio has designed Trefoil House in Aroeira, Portugal, as a series of overlapping concrete shapes topped by a long swimming pool.
Set on a sandy site amongst pine trees close to the Atlantic Ocean, the two-storey house has an unusual geometry that gives it its name.
The swimming pool runs along the rooftop. Photo by Marco Antunes
The ground floor is arranged around a hexagon-shaped hall, with a kitchen, living room and dining room in adjoining, tessellating hexagons. Between the rooms, three concrete rings shelter circular terraces.
On the first storey, three more hexagon-shaped rooms contain individual bedrooms with offset bathrooms that cantilever over the footprint of the building below to create a broken circle.
Curving concrete walls define ground floor terraces On the first floor, a stairway leads from the atrium into the space above one of the circular terraces and to a split level roof that is bisected by a long, narrow pool.
A rooftop terrace for enjoying the sunshine sits on the lower side, while the raised half is a platform for solar panels.
The pool looks out over the pine trees
Double O Studio said the design came from finding a way to include as much outdoor space as possible without impinging on nature by building a house with an expansive footprint.
"One of the design intents was to raise ground as roof and insert the space of the house under it while keeping the terrain as untouched and natural as possible," explained the studio.
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