Casa Aljezur

For the older generation, it was never truly a house, but part of a way of life. Some of those walls held – onions; animals; tools. For the younger generation, the reality was different – they watched and helped their grandfather carry the onions; chased the chickens; helped their grandmother hang out the laundry (some of them). For the teenagers, the most opportunistic, the farm shed was obviously a party space – they got drunk; gathered with friends; slept in sleeping bags. A true luxury. Little by little, the structure of this small building, which only knew how to serve the older generation, learned to be a living room, kitchen, dining area, bedroom, and bathroom. Already recognized as a home, it began to host lunches and dinners with wines whose quality increased year after year and with conversations that changed tone from bottle to bottle. The same people who taught this building to be a home, became adults and more demanding, and the house always wanted to keep up. Three architectural gestures: The first – the house rotated and reoriented itself to the south, an orientation that almost all Algarve houses know by heart. The second – a chimney attached to the house, large enough to be a kitchen. The third – a platform extends the living room space outwards, with a water tank that does a silent job. In winter, the southern exposure is generous; in summer, it can be too generous. The water ensures balance. Three small gestures that energize life, while maintaining a language that is familiar to the region.