

Lisbon, Portugal
Campo de Ourique lies on one of the seven hills of Lisbon. Thanks to its location and to the geological composition of its subsoil, it is one of the areas that best resisted the catastrophe caused by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in 1755. A slow
Known for the famous medieval castle after which it is named, the municipality of Leiria spreads by the banks of the Lis River. This compact single-family house goes up on a hill on the outskirts of the city, on a site in a high position overlooking
An old timber wharf stands the test of time in the Sado estuary nature reserve in Comporta, one hour south of Lisbon. Its identity remains beyond the material resistance of its construction. The project stems from the silent respect for this solid es
This new school complex is located in a low-density neighborhood on the outskirts of a small town by the Tagus River. The shape of the volume is determined by two essential factors: the functional requirements of the program and the anonymous urban c
Centuries ago the Tagus River estuary was the widest. The space available along the riverfront of the Portuguese capital has multiplied after subsequent interventions carried out over time. In this strip of land reclaimed from the water stands the ne
A natural platform in the Melides mountains, just a few kilometers from the coast, provides the site for this holiday rental home, promoted by Primosfera: a Lisbon-based company which assesses the construction of properties with the same dedication a
In the town of Barreiro, in Setúbal, the remains of two old warehouses, unified into a single space, are integrated in the project as the outer enclosure of the house. Outside, the ruin appearance and the traces of the past are maintained. Meanwhile,
Located in Grândola, a small municipality in the district of Setúbal, this daytime civic center for the elderly is part of the social services network of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia: a Portuguese institution founded in the 15th century, and that p
The great Alqueva Lake, located on the frontier of Extremadura and the Portuguese Alentejo, is the largest artificial lake in Western Europe, with an area of 250 square kilometers and more than 1,160 kilometers of interior coast. Since the inaugurati
Promoted by the Canton of Vaud, the City of Lausanne, and the CFF (Swiss Federal Railways), the new Pôle Museal is an urban regeneration plan, of scope unprecedented in Switzerland, set out to transform the city into a dynamic center of cultural inno
The small house goes up a few kilometers northeast of the Portuguese capital, on a hill in the town of Alenquer. The only elements that remained from an existing construction were the external walls, which have been retained and repaired. Setting asi
Looking at the past and the future at the same time, the Roman god of thresholds and transitions sums up well the profuse career of Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, two brothers and two studios that use geometry to take in each project a path that
Whereas the precondition for the urge to empathy is a happy pantheistic relationship of confidence between man and the phenomena of the external world, the urge to abstraction is the outcome of a great inner unrest inspired in man by the phenomena of
I believe it was John Cage who once told me, “When you start working, everybody is in your studio – the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas – all are there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one b
It is difficult to name a country where the modern program of social reform and hygienization through housing has been as strong as in France. In the 1920s, Le Corbusier declared architecture to be a crucial instrument in addressing societal ills Arc
Concebidas para mejorar el aislamiento térmico y matizar la entrada de luz, las contraventanas exteriores son hoy un recurso compositivo puesto al servicio del minimalismo.
Un muro perforado acoge el conjunto de viviendas para personas mayores en Alcácer do Sal, Portugal, diseñado por los lisboetas Aires Mateus. Posado sobre un encinar cuya pendiente entierra parcialmente el programa, el edificio se pliega en torno a un