Casa de Tijolo

The initial inspiration arose from memory: a house that conjures the summers of old beside the sea, a family hideaway between the ocean and the countryside, between the fragrance of labdanum and the sea air, quiet afternoons of buzzing cicadas and the running of water on a hill-top farm in the Alentejo

This inspiration led to an idea: to create a house built of natural, solid and genuine materials. Just the initial raw and pure state of things in their natural form: wood, brick and stone. To build a house fully integrated into an open valley that takes its strength from the elements of the land and the sea, and of the open fields of the Alentejo.

The purity and resilience of brick, combined with the wooden structure and lioz stone, evoke the ancient Roman influence in the Iberian Peninsula, creating a unique connection, in terms of colours and materials, between the house and the land.

Hundreds of thousands of solid handmade bricks piled one upon the other without correction. Mathematical perfection achieved out of the imperfection of brick. A house that resists and endures. The exploitation of the time variable in executing the plan and construction was crucial. Because pausing a project in time is one of Primosfera’s unique facets, a necessary condition to ensure quality and representative of a specific way of doing things.

The result is authenticity, a house that one senses, an extension of nature. A courtyard house that revolves around open-air spaces that intentionally follow one after the other. This repetition creates a coherence, but each courtyard has a separate identity, creating different sensory experiences and atmospheres, with the constant presence of water and flowers, climbing plants, aromatic herbs, wild strawberries and citrus fruit trees.

The story is set out in a book. Sketches, articles, conversations, photographs, the site, the journey and the finished house: the whole project preserved in a clay box – a memory of brick as a foundation, the weight of time, written down for posterity.

A [Brick] Book to present a [Brick] House.

We honor the brick by turning it into a book. In collaboration with Master craftsmen, we created the [Brick] Book from soil. Handmade with the same raw material, size and color as the one used on the building of the house. The [Brick] Book is a rare and collectible piece. It may be available in select galleries worldwide, showcasing "Casa do Tijolo" property and local craftsmanship, promoting cultural heritage.

Architect: Manuel Aires Mateus

Casa de Tijolo was designed within an area of 1,200m2 shared between several courtyards and living spaces.