![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/f301/c07a/80c1/3c00/002a/large_jpg/141.jpg?1409610476)
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Architects: Mario Martins Atelier
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:Fernando Guerra | FG + SG
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/f301/c07a/80c1/3c00/002a/large_jpg/141.jpg?1409610476)
Text description provided by the architects. The design of this new house was based on a pre-existing, somewhat uninteresting construction which was not fit for habitation, although it did have interesting stone walls.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/f323/c07a/80c1/3c00/002b/large_jpg/1665_218.jpg?1409610518)
The main floor of the house sits on a stone wall, on the upper part of the land. This has three bedrooms and an office which is reached through a generously lit corridor.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/ec02/c07a/80c1/3c00/001d/large_jpg/Captura_de_pantalla_2014-09-01_a_la(s)_17.54.25.jpg?1409608702)
A lower space rises naturally from the natural characteristics of the physical support, "sandwiched" by the stone wall, where there is the main entrance to a full-height area, with a living room next to an open kitchen. This communal area opens out to a glass wall that goes down to the ground with a view of the countryside, which still has a rural atmosphere.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/f32f/c07a/803f/0000/003a/large_jpg/1665_225a.jpg?1409610536)
The house has been redesigned with a contemporary language, but using a scale, forms, elements and materials present in the local architecture. The intention is primarily to reach a compromise between the vernacular architecture and a modern design, which is simple with a quiet presence and where the natural vegetation, of almond and carob trees typical of the Algarve countryside, predominates.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/f2dc/c07a/80c1/3c00/0029/large_jpg/129.jpg?1409610444)
And so the forms are discreet and the materials are natural: the stone on the walls and all the floors, the visible concrete and the white walls that reflect the intense and constant Algarve sun.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5404/f333/c07a/8020/a600/002b/medium_jpg/1665_220.jpg?1409610533)