![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/1ffb/f91c/81fc/d800/0003/newsletter/AIRES_AMTEUS_CASA_AREIA_230110_0002_230110_0293_copy.jpg?1633099739)
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Architects: Aires Mateus
- Area: 180 m²
- Year: 2010
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Photographs:Nelson Garrido
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/20a3/f91c/81fc/d800/0009/newsletter/AIRES_AMTEUS_CASA_AREIA_230110_0002_230110_0448_copy.jpg?1633099911)
Text description provided by the architects. This project is a response to very specific conditions. Its basis is the recovery of existing wood-masonry buildings, providing the complex with a homogeneous unity under a sloping roof.
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/201f/f91c/81a0/2300/0004/medium_jpg/AIRES_AMTEUS_CASA_AREIA_230110_0002_230110_0323_copy.jpg?1633099745)
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/203d/f91c/81fc/d800/0005/medium_jpg/AIRES_AMTEUS_CASA_AREIA_230110_0002_230110_0371_copy.jpg?1633099777)
The design begins with the existing material conditions, depending on their inhabitation potential.
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Interior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/23ce/f91c/81a0/2300/0018/medium_jpg/AIRES_MATEUS_CASAS_AREIA_COMPORTA_250410_0047_copy.jpg?1633100676)
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Image 30 of 34](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/2705/f91c/81fc/d800/0020/medium_jpg/casas_na_areia-plan_section_page-0001.jpg?1633101557)
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Chair, Beam](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/21f5/f91c/81a0/2300/000e/medium_jpg/AIRES_MATEUS_CASA_AREIA_240110_1000_copy.jpg?1633100217)
The brief suggests the renovation of the masonry buildings, adapting them for use as individual rooms, while one of the two wooden volumes is converted into a two-bedroom pavilion and the other is the pavilion for common areas.
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Interior Photography, Bedroom, Windows, Chair, Beam](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/2220/f91c/81a0/2300/0010/newsletter/AIRES_MATEUS_CASA_AREIA_240110_1045_copy.jpg?1633100284)
The street entrance emerges through the sandy ground, which is used as a basis for all the constructions. This treated material is spread as paving inside the community pavilion, qualifying the domestic conditions with a sense of natural comfort. The textural continuity of powerful material like sand changes the scale of the interior spaces, making the act of inhabitation a unique poetic experience, fitting for the sort of experience sought for this place.
![Houses on the Sand / Aires Mateus - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6157/2612/f91c/81fc/d800/001b/medium_jpg/AIRES_MATEUS_CASAS_AREIA_SWIMINGPOOL_290711_074_copy.jpg?1633101270)