The evocative short film “Somewhere in Afife” depicts the last day of summer, as experienced by a house designed by Guilherme Machado Vaz in northern Portugal.
We love a good architecture film, especially one that shows a building alive with activity. Architect Guilherme Machado Vaz and Building Pictures have released this short that dramatizes the last day of summer as experienced by a home in Afife, in the northern Minho region of Portugal.
Built next to an old chapel surrounded by granite walls, the white cube-ish home features shutters that, when closed, evoke a “facade that is the negation of itself, an anti-facade,” as the architect says.
Inside the home, the choice of materials – from the terrazzo floor on the ground level to the painted-wood window frames – nods to the local vernacular. The home’s split levels are in homage to Adolf Loos. A dreamy pool completes the idyllic picture. As a work of architecture, completed in 2018, the house is quite lovely, but the film is a sweet project in and of itself.
