The Mortuary House of the municipality of Barrancos is located close to the Spanish border, in Portugal’s Alentejo region. The Lisbon-based Mesa Atelier – Ana Isabel Santos, João Tavares, João Varela, Paulo Dias – drew up the project ‘Building with the Landscape’ and with it won the 2019 public competition to build these funerary chapels. Drawing inspiration from vernacular architecture, the funeral parlor revives traditional elements like the stone walls with dry joints, the wooden roofs, and the lime renderings.

Rising beside the cemetery, the building carefully adapts to the uneven terrain. In the middle section, a public square features the entrance and acts as a transitional and meeting space, offering spectacular views of the landscape. White volumes with bases of local schist emerge here next to the ‘light well’ that brightens up the waiting room on the ground floor.

Inside, the spaces are shaped in accordance with the topography, creating environments conducive to introspection. The waiting room serves as organizing hub, separating the public areas from the services. In addition, the system of sliding doors makes it possible for the chapels to be joined or separated, facilitating simultaneous and joint ceremonies.