Casas na Areia, Portugal | Aires Mateus

Casas Na Areia, located in Comporta, Grândola, in Portugal, is a 2010 project from architect Manuel Aires Mateus.

Initially a concept for a weekend house, it ended as a small hotel offering seaside accommodation in 4 little houses, based on existing wood-masonry buildings. They where reconstructed based on traditional methods using wood and a traditional stem.

Sand covers the floor in the most spectacular of the houses, the one that hosts the kitchen and living space, unifying the interior with the beach and landscape outside.

The project was chosen to represent Portugal at the Venice Architecture Biennale of 2010.
Renting details can be found here and here. 

Photos © Nelson Garrido

Description about the Casa Areia project from Nelson Garrido:

The sand transported to the interior becomes the unifying element between internal
and external worlds, making us believe we live in an extension of the natural
environment. This particularity transforms the space scale and living in this
houses becomes more poetic and comfortable. This project, materialized in a
sequence of volumes with an minimalism and apparent weakness revealed by traditional
construction that camouflages modern technology, leaves us the feeling that
there is something more beyond the simplicity of things…

Source: Archdaily | CasasNaAreia | WelcomeBeyond