This house is located in the Martinhal development in Sagres, on a stretch of the Algarve coast that remains sparsely built, perhaps because of its harsh, windswept climate. As across most of the country, holiday resorts with typical or rustic pretensions have arrived here too, calling for "Portuguese house" architectures designed to please and sell to foreign tourists. The homogeneity of these developments throughout the country, when set against the richness and specificity of Portuguese vernacular architecture, emerges as a colonising typology: unfamiliar, misguided and rootless.
The project was developed within the framework of the urban development plan, which set the building's setbacks from the plot boundaries, its footprint, gross floor area and volumetric characteristics. The largest and tallest volume of the house is located to the north, creating a marble-clad central patio sheltered from the strong prevailing winds. The L-shaped volume housing the bedrooms provides greater privacy around the swimming pool.
The spatial relationships between interior and exterior are articulated through the patios, which shield the large glazed surfaces from strong sunlight while filtering and reframing fragments of untouched landscape. Outdoor life at the house looks out over the ravine of the watercourse. The white house with its flat roofs revives the Algarve typology of the dry-farming houses, which the tourist resorts seem to know nothing about.
Awarded the International Architecture Awards 2008 – The Chicago Athenaeum
- Architecture
- ARX Portugal, Arquitectos lda. © — José Mateus, Nuno Mateus
- Client
Private Client
- Project Years
2002 - 2003
- Construction Years
2005 - 2007
- Total Area
- 320m²
- Engineering
SAFRE - Estudos e Projetos
- Contractor
- SCFS