Six Prefab Concrete Cabins Pop Up in the Foothills of Portugal
SUMMARY uses its affordable Gomos System to construct a 10,743-square-foot prefab development in just eight months.
SUMMARY uses its affordable Gomos System to construct a 10,743-square-foot prefab development in just eight months.
Shortly after Portuguese architect Samuel Gonçalves unveiled the Gomos System—a framework for building modular, concrete structures—at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016, he was asked to put his prefab system to the test in the foothills of Portugal’s Serra da Estrela mountains.
"The requirements for this project were boldly defined from the beginning," says Gonçalves, founder of the Porto-based architecture firm SUMMARY. "The construction should be fast, cost-effective and changeable over time—which prompted the studio to use prefabricated elements, and to leave parts of the project undefined, assuming immediacy, flexibility, and resources optimization as core themes."
Dubbed VDC after its location in the Portuguese municipality of Vale de Cambra, the concrete building faces northeastern valley views.
Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
The brief called for a mixed-use development with commercial and residential programs. Since the client was primarily focused on the project’s budget, adaptability, and a fast construction timeline, the building’s design was largely left in the hands of the architects, who were free to experiment with a sculptural form.
All components were prefabricated in a factory and quickly assembled on-site. The system "performs at once as structure, insulation, and cladding elements," says Gonçalves. The assembly process took eight months in total.
Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
"The shed roof has a very functionalist intention. As a prefab and modular system, Gomos is supposed to be produced in a place and shipped and installed in many different locations," says Gonçalves. "So we wanted to ensure that it would work well even if it’s assembled in a place with severe rainfall or snow."
Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
See the full story on Dwell.com: Six Prefab Concrete Cabins Pop Up in the Foothills of Portugal
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