Suburban sprawl around the world has led to the rhythmic placement of cloned homes along a linear axis and the ability to create unique residential spaces is made much harder due to the lack of space, often times strict zoning regulations and clients willing or able to pay for a unique home.
In such a neighborhood in sao miguel island that makes up part of the tropical azores, portguese practice sala2 arquitectos designed a residence to block out the more or less mundane surroundings and create a little exterior slice - literally - of heaven inside the private home. following in the same general typology as the rest of the dwellings, the stark white 'house in relva' complies with the local aesthetic, but differs in that it contains a thin sliver of exterior space where a cut of the end wall seems to have been separated from the rest of the volume. in this open-air gap, treated as an exterior space, a courtyard and green wall provide a garden washed with light as a retreat away from suburbia. large windows are placed around the perimeter to soak up plenty of the island sun in a light-filled interior.