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Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo

Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

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  • Catarina de Almeida Brito
  • 19 November 2018
  • Alentejo, Portugal
  • Atelier Data
  • house
  • 2018

The landscape of Portugal’s largest region is dry and vast, endless rolling hills are dotted with olive and pine trees, and the occasional white-rendered house. Amidst these rustic pastures lies Casa Cercal – a holiday house designed by Lisbon architecture studio Atelier Data. The house is partially sunken into the landscape to minimise its impact on this landscape, while allowing for an expansive floorplan of comfortably sized living spaces.

Casa Cercal frames the landscape and the sky in a way that invites them to become part of the architecture

"The search for the right position and solar orientation, in parallel with a volumetry that searches for a skilful dialogue with the slope  and also the pursuit of the best visual horizon, synthesise the main intervention strategy guidelines," say Atelier Data.

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data half buries bright white villa into the rolling plains of Alentejo Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Plan Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Diagram Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Axonometric drawing Casa Cercal is a minimalist holiday home for a family of ten in Portugal's Alentejo region, which forges a poetic relationship with its surroundings through an expansive patio and infinity pool.

Photo by Richard John Seymour

Four courtyards punctuate the corners of the house, providing private outdoor spaces for the two bedrooms and dormitory, as well as adjacent outdoor showering areas for the bathrooms. At the heart of the house, the kitchen, dining and living areas are gathered into one single space with clean lines and an exposed roof structure. Here, a perfectly framed view to the scenery beyond is achieved through sliding windows and barn-like shutters that vanish into the walls. When open, the polished concrete floor inside cascades out towards an infinity pool following the contour lines of the landscape.

The entrance is announced by a wooden door painted in traditional "Alentejo blue" that swings open to welcome visitors

The entrance is announced by a wooden door painted in traditional "Alentejo blue" that swings open to welcome visitors onto a traditional clay brick floor which paves the patios – another characteristic feature of the Alentejo vernacular. Threshold spaces between the interior and exterior further help in forging a unique relationship with what’s in and out, and blur the notion of architecture and landscape. Casa Cercal frames the landscape and the sky in a way that invites them to become part of the architecture, and combines the rustic character of the region with modern and minimal traits.

The house is partially sunken into the landscape to minimise its impact on this landscape
  • Casa Cercal
  • Atelier Data
  • Filipe Rodrigues
  • Filipe Rodrigues, Inês Vicente, Marta Frazão, Filipa Neiva, Joana Matos, Ricardo Carvalho
  • 250 sqm
  • NCREP/DAJ
  • João Bernardino, Construções ecológica
  • 2018
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