The architectural studio Souto de Moura Arquitectos has been in charge of turning this old rural dependence into an attractive space of lodging as well as a long series of amenities.
The new complex of The Monte, reformer by Eduardo Souto de Moura has a core characterized by 7 buildings implanted along a central street, which defines two main sets (North and South). The North complex, with an area of 4.144 m², consists of 2 buildings: the old industrial and official building and the storehouse for the farming tools. The South complex consists of 5 buildings: the main house, the agricultural pavilions, the dovecot, the kennel and the pigsty, with an area of 3.810 m². Further south, the vegetable garden area comprises 20.333 m², including the old vegetable garden keeper’s house, with an area of 34 m², and the outdoor pool.
 

Description of the project in conversation with Eduardo Souto de Moura, by Nelson Garrido

“The first thing that struck me as soon as I arrived was the ambience of this property, which is hard to find. Everyone knows that Alentejo is very beautiful, but I wasn’t expecting to have a prehistoric heritage like this.

Then there were two other factors that were also a surprise where views were concerned. What is unusual in Alentejo is to have water on the edge of the property – the famous Alqueva Dam and the views of Monsaraz which is lovely from the outside in. The second question was the urban nature of this monte. This is not just a house. This is truly a mini-universe, a village. It has its own hierarchy: a street, a square, outbuildings, cloisters. This is what we rarely find in such good condition.

I see things not for their value as such but always from the point of view of how to handle them. That is, what should I do here? Everyone knows that each historic development is unique and Barrocal is a difficult but very interesting project because we are working on the razor’s edge. If we go too far, we’ll spoil it, and if we don’t do enough it won’t work.

The main question here is starting from a position that is theoretically very interesting but actually very dangerous in practice – but it’s the only way. The only way to preserve heritage is to live with it and use it, even if it is damaged in some places. Because only everyday life transforms it into something natural and gives it heritage status.

What’s fascinating here is the change in usage. A building might be created for a particular purpose, and then evolve to meet different, contemporary needs. There is a process that is very absorbing finding out how an olive press, for example, can become a place for a living room with a bar, how agricultural outbuildings can be made into houses, and how a cowshed can be made into a restaurant. This change in use needs hardly any intervention at all. The challenge is how architecture will responde.

I think that people’s first impression will be that they feel at home here, even if they have come just to relax. One is going to read, another is going to write a thesis, another is here for a holiday. People will run into each other and they will go off to buy bread or the paper or they will go out for dinner. They will run into each other and after a few days there will be a connection. I think it is important to form a kind of community. But a fleeting community, because that’s the way it’s designed. Except that the people will have changed.

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Architect
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Eduardo Souto de Moura
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Collaborators
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Interior Design Studio: Anahory Almeida
Landscape Architect: João Gomes da Silva
Project Engineering: Afaconsult
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Dates
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Estate’s foundation: 1820
Project’s inception: 2002
Architectural project development: 2008-2016
Contruction work completion: 2016
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Location
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Monsaraz, Alentejo, Portugal
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Estate’s foundation
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1820




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Areas
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Estate’s area: 780 hectares
Construction gross area: 13.524,5 m²
Site plan area: 13.019 m²
Farming village (Monte) total area: 37.175 m²
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Client
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São Lourenço do Barrocal
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Eduardo Souto de Moura was born in Porto, Portugal in 1952. His father was a doctor (ophthalmologist) and his mother a home maker. He has one brother and one sister. The sister is also a doctor and his brother is a lawyer with a political career – formerly he was Attorney General of Portugal.

Following his early years at the Italian School, Souto de Moura enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Porto, where he began as an art student, studying sculpture, but eventually achieving his degree in architecture. He credits a meeting with Donald Judd in Zurich for the switch from art to architecture. While still a student, he worked for architect Noé Dinis and then Álvaro Siza, the latter for five years. While studying and working with his professor of urbanism, Architect Fernandes de Sá, he received his first commission, a market project in Braga which has since been demolished because of changing business patterns.

After 2 years of military service he won the competition for the Cultural Centre in Porto. The beginning of his career as an independent architect.

He is frequently invited as a guest professor to Lausanne and Zurich in Switzerland as well as Harvard in the United States. These guest lectures at universities and seminars over the years have afforded him the opportunity to meet many colleagues in the field, among them Jacques Herzog and Aldo Rossi.

He is married and he has 3 daughters: Maria Luisa, Maria da Paz e Maria Eduarda.His wife, Luisa Penha, and the eldest daughter are architects, the second is a nurse and the third is on the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Oporto for the 3rd year.

Along with his architecture practice, Souto de Moura is a professor at the University of Oporto, and is a visiting professor at Geneva, Paris-Belleville, Harvard, Dublin and the ETH Zurich and Lausanne.

Often described as a neo-Miesian, but one who constantly strives for originality, Souto de Moura has achieved much praise for his exquisite use of materials -- granite, wood, marble, brick, steel, concrete -- as well as his unexpected use of color. Souto de Moura is clear on his view of the use of materials, saying, “I avoid using endangered or protected species. I think we should use wood in moderation and replant our forests as we use the wood. We have to use wood because it is one of the finest materials available.”

In an interview with Croquis, he explained, “I find Mies increasingly fascinating...There is a way of reading him which is just to regard him as a minimalist. But he always oscillated between classicism and neoplasticism...You only have to remember the last construction of his life, the IBM building, with that powerful travertine base that he drilled through to produce a gigantic door. Then on the other hand, he arrived in Barcelona and did two pavilions, didn’t he? One was abstract and neo plastic and the other one was 9 classical, symmetrical with closed corners...He was experimenting. He was already so modern he was ‘post’.”

Souto de Moura acknowledges the Miesian influence, speaking of his Burgo Tower, but refers people to something written by Italian journalist and critic, Francesco Dal Co, “it’s better not to be original, but good, rather than wanting to be very original and bad.”

At a series of forums called the Holcim Forum on sustainable architecture, Souto de Moura stated, “For me, architecture is a global issue. There is no ecological architecture, no intelligent architecture, no sustainable architecture — there is only good architecture. There are always problems we must not neglect; for example, energy, resources, costs, social aspects — one must always pay attention to all these.”

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