From Boutique
Pritzker Prize winning Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura’s expressive designs are first and foremost as he explained to Arch Daily, “A personal opinion…” created to satisfy himself. “If I am happy, if my work is useful, and it makes my client happy then the goal is achieved.”
Mission accomplished.
This holiday home in Portugal illustrates Souto de Moura’s dramatic but simple aesthetic as well as the utilitarian aspects of living spaces and landscapes. It’s lived-in and real, with a naturally adaptive response to the traditional Algarve architecture.
Set within the Ria Formosa National Park, the house in the words of the 2011 Pritzker Prize jury, “has a unique ability to convey seemingly conflicting characteristics — power and modesty, bravado and subtlety, bold authority and a sense of intimacy at the same time.”
The house was completed in 1995 and was inspired by traditional architecture of the eastern Algarve with a modernists’ take on the classic country house.
Set within the coastal pine forests of the Ria Formosa National Park just outside of Tavira, the house is composed of clean lines and whitewashed box forms, interrupted only by slide away glass that reveal the sights and the sounds of nature and the wind from the Atlantic.
Distributed in just three ground floor areas, the east facing rooms welcome in the filtered morning light through the garden doors, with lovely views of Ria Formosa and the sea.
The living spaces keep it casual and stylish with a loose mix of contemporary pieces, locally sourced textiles and furnishings, and a crisp, uncomplicated palette of color and form.
With three double bedrooms, the house can accommodate up to six guests.
Surrounded by grassy lawns and national forest land, you’ll have the best of the Algarve brought to you by an architect who knows it best.