SAVOY RESIDENCE – WHITE HOUSE

‘Savoy Residence’ is a project by RH + Arquitectos. With a gross built area of 3030 m2, was built in an area of Funchal (Portugal) that has no specific pattern when it comes to the dimensions or function of the buildings surrounding it. The level variations and the location of the plot were determinant to the concept of this building, mainly for housing, but also containing hotel services, such as a Spa and accommodation units.

Twenty-one luxury apartments compose this housing complex, whose standards of living are noticed in the materials, finishes, range of
colours, architecture and interior design. Instead of a single volume, the apartments were divided into two blocks, allowing them to have more spaces opened towards the exterior, more natural light, and better sights towards the landscape. The building isn´t close to the street or the plot’s limits, allowing it to be more independent, having its own architectural identity. This solution was also important to create gardens in the surrounding areas – some for public use, some that are part of the apartments. A hedge, inserted in these gardens, defines a light threshold between João Paulo II Street and the building. The gardens and the hedge itself are also crucial elements in terms of the interior spaces of the ground floor apartments, to whom they are directly connected, creating a different interior atmosphere from the upper-level apartments. Even though the building is generated from a pure geometric matrix, it is deconstructed to be adapted to the location and the surroundings. The exterior walls go back, forward or are interrupted throughout the building to define big windows and balconies as if it were an extension of the interior spaces. Structural concrete elements were kept at sight, as an aesthetical option, integrating them as part of the design of the façades. This also helps to achieve this intention of deconstruction of purer geometrical volumes and seems to take away its technical and functional characteristics. The façades are also composed of large size porcelain tiles, with a dark marble pattern, which is the main and most distinctive material of the building, that reinforces its luxury image.