Casa das Freiras by Mário Martins Atelier: Memory and Lightness Intertwined

Casa das Freiras by Mário Martins Atelier is situated in Lagos, Portugal, and emerged in 2020 from the footprint of a once-degraded vehicle workshop. Rather than a simple residential project, this intervention navigates the delicate interplay between memory and contemporary lightness. It engages a site marked by the region’s complex urban layers and the persistent presence of an imposing boundary wall. This wall, more than a meter thick, has absorbed centuries of successive occupations, shaping not only the spatial character of the project but also its architectural ethos. The thick masonry screen, both a remnant and a threshold, shapes the project’s engagement with the city. The typology of the patio house, ubiquitous in the region due to the Moorish legacy, provides a conceptual framework that informs the spatial logic of the dwelling.

Casa das Freiras Technical Information

• Architects^1-5: Mário Martins Atelier
• Location: Lagos, Portugal
• Gross Area: 452 m² | 4,865 Sq. Ft.
• Project Completion Year: 2020
• Photographs: © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG

The way that was found to show the wall’s character was through the contrasting lightness of the house, which hides and seeks shelter through the force of the wall.

– Mário Martins

Casa das Freiras Photographs

Design Intent and Spatial Organization

At the heart of Casa das Freiras is a careful negotiation of programmatic clarity and spatial continuity. The design pivots around a central patio that functions as an atmospheric anchor. This courtyard is not merely a passive void but an active social condenser that connects the dwelling’s parts while mediating light and air. The private quarters, comprising four bedrooms, unfold discreetly along the garden edge, establishing a hierarchy of spaces that oscillate between intimacy and openness.

The design intent becomes apparent in the interplay between the powerful presence of the ancient wall and the house’s deliberate lightness. This duality finds expression in the transition from the heavy opacity of the street-facing wall to the transparent threshold created by large glass panes opening onto the garden. This spatial arrangement privileges the interplay between interior and exterior, reinforcing the patio’s centrality in daily life. The spatial sequences emerge as a measured choreography, where the wall’s protective solidity coexists with a permeable, luminous domestic realm.

Material Strategy and Architectural Expression

Materiality in Casa das Freiras is approached with a commitment to sobriety and clarity. The retained masonry wall sets the tone, grounding the project in its historical context. In contrast, the new volumes rely on a restrained palette of bare concrete, natural stone pavements, and plastered ceilings. The tactile quality of these materials establishes a dialogue between the contemporary architectural language and the weight of historical presence.

The expansive glazing elements that define the garden-facing façades offer a nuanced transparency. These elements do not merely create visual continuity; they dematerialize boundaries, allowing the garden and patio to become integral to the dwelling’s daily rhythms. Concrete, chosen for its raw honesty, becomes an expressive surface that engages with the surrounding landscape’s light, shadow, and textures. In this composition, material austerity transcends simplicity, creating an architecture of quiet, measured elegance.

Casa das Freiras Urban Resonance

Beyond its immediate domestic program, Casa das Freiras resonates with the larger urban landscape of Lagos. It acknowledges the city’s layered history without nostalgia, recognizing that architecture participates in an ongoing dialogue with its environment. The project’s intervention respects the weight of the site’s history while offering a contemporary expression that is deliberately ephemeral. It does not seek to overshadow the city’s accumulated layers but rather to add a subtle, momentary presence.

This architecture is not about imposing itself as a static object. Instead, it frames a lived experience that shifts through the day and seasons, engaging with time as an essential design dimension. The house becomes a threshold, both physically and conceptually, linking the inherited past with the potential of the present. In this sense, Casa das Freiras achieves a quiet yet profound architectural fulfillment, underscoring that authentic architecture is always a provisional act within the continuum of place and time.

Casa das Freiras Plans

Casa das Freiras Image Gallery

About Mário Martins Atelier

Mário Martins Atelier is an architecture and urban planning studio founded in 2000, with offices in Lagos and Lisbon, Portugal. The practice is renowned for its thoughtful integration of contemporary design within historical and cultural contexts, emphasizing material honesty, spatial clarity, and a deep respect for place. Their diverse portfolio includes private residences, collective housing, public facilities, and urban renewal projects, many of which have garnered national and international recognition. A commitment to architectural integrity and contextual sensitivity characterizes the studio’s work.

Credits and Additional Notes

1. Lead Architect: Mário Martins, arq.
2. Project Team: André Coutinho, Mariana Franco, Rita Rocha, Sónia Fialho, José Furtado, Gonçalo Guimarães, So Yeon Lim, Thais Bressiani, Helder Lima
3. Engineering: Nuno Grave Engenharia, Zona Térmica, HRF&SCL Soluções
4. Landscape: F|C Arquitectura Paisagista
5. Building Contractor: Marques Antunes Engenharia