Catalonian studio RCR Arquitectes has completed the first of eight luxury red concrete villas it has designed for the Palmares Ocean Living & Golf resort in the Algarve.
The Pritzer Prize-winning studio has designed all of the buildings for the seaside resort, including villas, hotels and a clubhouse building that opened in late 2020.
Villa 19 is the first of eight Signature Villas at the Palmares resort
Although there will be more than 100 villas in total, only eight will come under the title Signature Villas. This one, called Villa 19, is the first of those eight to complete.
What sets the Signature Villas apart is their size. Each one boasts four bedrooms and bathrooms, sea views, a large private swimming pool and a sizeable garden.
The building is constructed from red pigmented concrete As with the other buildings at the Palmares resort, these villas are primarily formed of overlapping planes of red pigmented concrete.
Wall surfaces are angular rather than curvy, yet they still have an organic feel. Rooms are designed to fan out from one other, so there is no clear front or back to the building.
Overhanging roofs offer natural sun shading
"We have created the homes at Palmares not as objects implanted into the environment, but as spaces embedded into the topography, framing the landscape," explained Rafael Aranda, one of the three co-founders of RCR Arquitectes.
"The Signature Villas were developed with a unique relationship with the external natural ...