Process
Why we start every house with a section, not a plan
Plans describe how rooms connect. Sections describe how light, air and people move. That is why every Lunaro project begins with a cut through the ground.
Written by
Inês Moura
Partner
Most houses are designed from the plan up. We do it the other way round: the first drawing on every project is a section, usually at 1:50, drawn by hand.
Light is vertical
The sun moves across the sky, not across the floor. A section shows where it will land in January and where it must be stopped in July. Ceiling heights, overhangs and clerestories all start there.
A plan tells you where the sofa goes. A section tells you whether you will want to sit on it.
The ground matters
Portugal is rarely flat. Cutting through the site early tells us how a house should meet the slope — and whether it should step, float or dig in.
Only when the section feels right do we move to the plan. By then, half the design decisions have already been made.
