Contemporary architecture in Portugal is a blend of traditional and modern elements that reflect the country's rich cultural and historical heritage. In addition, it reflects global trends and influences in the discipline. From the aesthetics, functionality, and preservation of stone houses to the richness of Portuguese tiles, projects in this small country serve as a reference for many other cultures because of their careful design and precise action.
A striking feature of contemporary architecture in Portugal is the harmonious integration between modern buildings and the existing historical environment, which deserves due recognition. With surgical projects and distinct solutions, Portuguese architects can bring ruins and traditional spaces into modernity with excellence. With different strategies, they can encompass secular elements with modern materials, create voids, and bring the necessary comfort and technologies for contemporary life. Below are ten projects that serve as examples.
House in Melgaço / Nuno Brandão Costa
"The house to be extended, a very small rural stone building, fits into the rough terrain. [...] The powerful landscape and the character of the existing ruin suggested an extension to the house like a timeless construction, with no defined boundaries, but limited by the local materials."
Mafra House / João Tiago Aguiar Arquitectos
"A project that has created a singular mix of forces between the past and the present. [...] The central idea was to take advantage of the ruined pre-existing façade; a façade which, when recovered, visually highlighted the new house. The goal was to find an equilibrium, given the diversity of the houses in the surrounding area and the proximity to the national monument."
Rates House / ATELIERDACOSTA
"From the two pre-existing schist stone volumes, we occupied the one facing the street with rooms, whilst the other we unoccupied with an exterior patio. The proposal aims to belt and consolidate the pre-existences by building inside and around a new concrete “coffer”, enough elastic to transport one living on the well-consolidated street to maximum isolation of the fields in the north sector."
QBN House / Pardo
"The former construction, now refurbished to become the family house, had been a secondary building of the farm, previously used as a school, wine cellar, and agricultural storage, at different periods of its history. Divided into two stone masonry juxtaposed volumes: a covered but open construction contiguous to the street and a two-story building next to it."
Casa da Calçada / Ren Ito
"Casa da Calçada dates back to the 18th century. The property occupies an area of 5000m², where several outbuildings are scattered. In this project, the land was split into different buildings, and each of these areas was conceived as a unique place."
House in Minho / Germano de Castro Pinheiro Arquitectos
"The greatest challenge of the project development, was the guiding intent to respect and recover the ancient memory of the site, reconciling it with the intervention we were to carry out [...] Conditioned by the intent to respect the primitive construction, the insertion of the necessary functional program would have to be made in newly constructed volumes, releasing the historical heritage of the site."
NaMora House / Filipe Pina + David Bilo
"At its center stands a modest pre-existence of granite built in the mid-twentieth century, from where the new project started. [...] Functionally, the idea was to design a fluid and easy-to-perceive pace but also unique and adapted to the program to which it responds. For this, it uses the differences in floor dimensions, the design of the ceilings and ceiling heights, and the introduction of exceptional moments using patios and moments of vertical light, resulting in a unique, different space."
2 Casas em Setúbal / Lioz Arquitetura
"As a result of the intervention, the building is part of a group of other residential buildings grouped around the Carlos Relvas bullring square in Setúbal, which, due to their constructive and morphological characteristics, were executed concurrently in 1889. [...] To enhance the use of public space and strengthen the residential vocation of the group, the intervention focused on transforming four dwellings into two, each with a ground floor, public space, and first floor. This change also sought to adapt the typology to contemporary conditions, allowing for the necessary hydraulic infrastructure."
Coura House / Luís Peixoto
"The Coura project starts from the need for rehabilitation of a country house with two centuries of history. [...] The strategy of the project is based on the idea of reuse, giving continuity to the history of the house by the functional adaptation and adjustment to contemporary domestic comfort. The intervention then seeks to preserve the architectural language of the existing building, mainly using old construction techniques of stone and wood, typical of the region."
E_C House / SAMI-arquitectos
"A ruin was the starting point for the design of a holiday house in the island of Pico. [...] The house, modelled inside the walls of stone, was designed with generous openings, for light to come inside and to contemplation of the landscape. These openings are sometimes lined up, and sometimes not, with the former openings of the ruin, creating new frames and relations with the original limits of the house."
