HOUSE IN MEDRONHEIRA, ODECEIXE
The Casas da Medronheira are located approximately a kilometre and a half southeast of the town of Odeceixe, and four kilometres from the beach of the same name. The property consists of just under two hectares of land of which just over 450 square meters is constructed. The complex, most of which lies at the top of a steep slope overlooking the valley of the River Seixe on the site of former ruins, establishes an intense dialogue with the territory. This is evident on two distinct levels: in its formal relationship with the topography, as reflected in its territorial implantation (the last line that man can tread before the precipice), and in the way it directs the gaze and the relationship that these spaces establish with the surrounding territory, now transformed into landscape. It openly declares itself an artificial mark on the natural environment, its roof tilted so as to receive or decline the geological ridges and water lines that cross it, dramatizing and geometrizing the existing topography; but it is also a kind of belvedere from which one can survey the landscape of the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, of which it is part.
