15 houses designed for contemporary living in Portugal

A selection of domestic architectures published by Domus to explore the most recent chapters in a story made of a deeper sensitivity to natural and relational landscape.

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La redazione di Domus
22 May 2023

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, Portugal has been the epicenter of a research that has soon become a unique reference for contemporary architecture, up to representing a foundation for historian Kenneth Frampton’s highly successful theoretical category of critical regionalism. It is a research made of a deep connection with the local dimension of natural, settlement and, above all, human landscape; of poetics of formal simplicity; and, above all, of a great attention to the domestic dimension of architecture, to the house as the fundamental unit of the built landscape. From Álvaro Siza to Eduardo Souto de Moura several relevant names have contributed to building a story that today develops day by day in projects of houses and interiors that carry on such legacy by writing new chapters, as much different among themselves as they are from their original references. Among those that Domus has published in recent months, we have chosen 15 examples capable of disclosing this story in all its different aspects.

A house that revolves around the patio

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 Photo by Ivo Tavares Studio

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 level -1

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 level 0

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 roof plan

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 section

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 west elevation

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 east elevation

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 north elevation

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 south elevation

Helder da Rocha Arquitectos, House in Santa Marinha, Lousada, Portugal 2022 sketch

In a residential neighbourhood to the south of Porto, Helder da Rocha Arquitectos has designed a sculptural and minimalist single-family home that stands out vigorously from the surrounding anonymous building context. Read full article here

A monolithic house set inland

Frari - architecture network, Casa 109, Vagos, Portugal 2022 Photo Ivo Tavares Studio

Frari - architecture network, Casa 109, Vagos, Portugal 2022 ground floor

Frari - architecture network, Casa 109, Vagos, Portugal 2022 first floor

Frari - architecture network, Casa 109, Vagos, Portugal 2022 roof floor

Placed adjacent to one of the city’s most important and busiest thoroughfares, this house designed by Frari – architecture network reconciles the need for shelter from external atmospheric and acoustic congestion with the need to enjoy open space as a natural extension of the domestic environment. Read full article here

An introverted and luminous fortress-house in Portugal

Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022. Photo Ivo Tavares Studio Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022. Photo Ivo Tavares Studio

Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022 site plan

Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022 concept

Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022 ground floor

Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022 first floor

Pema Studio, Casa Forte, Santo Tirso, Portugal 2022 south elevation and longitudinal section

In the dense and consolidated urban fabric of Santo Tirso, in northern Portugal, the project for a one-family house by Pema Studio gives an anonymous place, nestled between built plots of no particular quality, an evocative and captivating character. Read full article here