The whitewashed stone wall that surrounds this holiday home in southern Portugal draws on the region's historic walled fortifications known as alcáçova, to create a feeling of refuge and shelter.
Designed by Promontorio in collaboration with architect João Cravo, Casa da Volta or "Home of Return" is dug into a slope on an isolated and remote site in the hills surrounding the town of Grândola.
Amid this "endless" landscape, the international studio has turned the home inwards, with an almost entirely blank exterior concealing a large courtyard around which living spaces are arranged.
The Casa da Volta holiday home in Portugal is surrounded by whitewashed walls
"This typology of a fortified farm is the dominant form of occupation across the Maghreband the Mediterranean, from Roman antiquity and Arab settlements to Fernand Pouillon and Le Corbusier's projects in Argel," explained the studio. "Poetically, it summons the human need to define a place of dwelling amidst the endlessness of the landscape."
Two small entrances ? a corner gateway for cars and a small door for people - lead into the home, where a large planted gravel courtyard is surrounded by three blocks arranged in a U-shape.
The home has a U-shaped plan with living spaces that lead out to a pool
At the back of the courtyard is the bedroom block, a row of six simple en-suite rooms positioned off a corridor. These bedrooms both look onto and have direct access to the centra...