For decades, the architecture of the Algarve coast was understood as a backdrop for tourism — white cubes stacked above a blue sea, sun-bleached and interchangeable. But the vernacular architecture of the region is far more sophisticated than its tourist image suggests.

The traditional Algarvian house is an essay in climate response. Its thick walls moderate the temperature swing between day and night. Its deep roof overhangs shade the facade in summer and admit the low winter sun. Its patio creates a shaded microclimate at the heart of the house, where water, planting, and air movement keep the interior cool without mechanical systems.

Modernist architects have long admired these principles. In the 1950s and 60s, Portuguese architects adapted the vernacular to a contemporary idiom — flat roofs, generous terraces, sliding glass walls that dissolve the boundary between inside and out. The result was a coastal modernism that felt both modern and deeply rooted.

Our own coastal projects — Casa Monte, Villa Marim — are conversations with this tradition. We are not building pastiche. We are re-reading the principles and expressing them in the language of today: larger openings, better glazing, more ambitious structures. But the essence is the same: shade, breeze, water, and the discipline of doing less.