Architects Filipe Pina and Maria Inês Costa have overhauled an abandoned farmhouse in rural Portugal, contrasting its rustic granite walls with a new skin of dark corrugated metal.

Pina and Costa completely refurbished the property, now known as MCR2 House, so that it could be used as a holiday home, a guesthouse or as a permanent residence.
Aiming to retain the "humble character" of the original, century-old building, they demolished a 1950s annex and replaced it with an extension that more directly matches its neighbour.

The new addition mimics the proportions of the farmhouse building and they both share a new roof.
However the architects chose a more contemporary material palette for the extension, so that both sides of the building have their own distinct identity. One side is the restored stone, while the other side is clad in corrugated metal.

"The pre-existing building was maintained and the idea of the annex proved to be a starting point for the concept of the project," explained the architects. "In the absence of space, an adjacent space is built."
"In materiality, the new and old were distinguished, sheltered under the same roof: the stone and the corrugated sheet, side-by-side and in continuity," they added.

The house is located near the Serra da Estrela mountain range in the east of Portugal. It was originally built in the early 20th-century and would have been used for both residential and agricultural activities.
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