"A home shaped by stone, heat and wind, where the ruin guides every new gesture."
Herman van Hulsteijn
A remote hillside in Castelo Branco holds the remains of an old stone dwelling. The work begins by reading the ruin carefully, folding its boulders, age and texture into a renewed way of living.
Several challenges define the project: working around enormous stone blocks, constructing on steep, uneven ground, and accommodating the trees that will return to the roof. These constraints sharpen the design. Water, air, and movement slip through open passages; an indoor outdoor-shower receives daylight directly from the sky. The atmosphere becomes playful and tactile, mixing modern precision with the sincerity of the old structure.
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We work within a fragile stone shell, a ruin shaped by time and the dry summers of the Portuguese interior. Each wall carries the memory of past craft, cut from local boulders and set against a wide, fruitful landscape of olives. Rather than replacing these traces, we let them anchor the new structure. The extension grows from the existing mass, held lightly in steel and framed by generous openings.
The site sits far from towns and roads, so its isolation asks for clarity and calm. Designing on location became essential. Light shifts across rough stone, guiding where we carve thresholds or keep shadows intact. Views open toward the surrounding hills, allowing every room a moment of quiet orientation. This dialogue between ruin and addition shapes the home’s daily rhythm.
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Shelter
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Horizon
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Contours
Catergory
Opened table
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Quiet frame
New lines through old stone
A layered home emerges from the existing fabric, shaped by the ruin’s material weight and the expansive olive-farm horizon. Steel, stone and open air work together to form a soft boundary between inside and outside.
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Roots
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Layers
