Atelier Data

Cabrita Moleiro House

CABRITA MOLEIRO HOUSE

Atelier Data

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

ARCHITECTS
Atelier Data

ENGINEERING FIRM
Augusto Candeias

PROJECT TEAM
Filipe Rodrigues, Inês Vicente, Marta Frazão, Francisco Libório, Filipa Neiva, Rafael Gomes, Joana Matos

PROJECT LEADER
Filipe Rodrigues

PHOTOGRAPHS
Richard John Seymour

AREA
230 m²

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Portugal

CATEGORY
Houses, Adaptive Reuse

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

Text description provided by architect.

Lisbon-based architecture and design studio Atelier Data have completed work on a residential project in Portugal’s Algarve region, transforming a former family-run granary mill into a five-bedroom holiday home.

Casa Cabrita Moleiro (Cabrita Mill House) was once operated by the Cabrita family’s grandfather, who led a typical rural Algarve lifestyle.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

The region has since become a popular holiday destination, and the mill stood unused. The site was composed of a series of traditional rural dwellings:

a small house; a wind well for milling wheat; a threshing floor to harvest grain; and a small corral for livestock.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

Atelier Data, driven by the desire to repurpose the existing structures, integrated them into the new design, creating a series of interior and exterior spaces that celebrate the surrounding landscape while providing a series of private areas.

The design has been inspired by the local vernacular. ‘Açoteia Algarvia’, a flat rooftop feature for observing the sea and drying products in the sun, has been reinterpreted and introduced on the new structures.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

A series of geometric volumes and carved-out voids provide private patios to the bedrooms, while windows, balconies, and terraces strategically frame views to the surrounding arid landscape and the Atlantic Ocean.

The kitchen, living room, and swimming pool make up the core social area of the house, of which a series of private areas are distributed.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

Three en-suite bedrooms are located in the first building volume that is offset from the former exterior wall of the miller’s house, forming a sequence of outdoor courtyards that provide private exterior spaces.

Above, a rooftop terrace with a shared jacuzzi takes total advantage of the privileged view over the sea.

At the building core, an exterior patio from which the different areas and volumes are distributed.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

This patio consists of local plant species and rocks that contribute to a cool environment to deal with the region’s hot climate.

This space also acts as a ‘home divider’, enabling it to act as a five-bedroom holiday house or a two-bedroom one with a separate three-bedroom annex.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

“Casa Cabrita Moleiro is a flexible living space that can accommodate various possibilities of use and sharing, ” said Atelier Data.

The refurbishment features elements and materials that have been locally sourced, are recycled, or have been left exposed.

Together, they contribute to the house’s contemporary, minimal, rural character. The architects prioritized an authentic aesthetic that is true to the rural nature of the site.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour
Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour

This includes the use of rail track reclaimed wood, laid out in a playful pattern on the patio pavement, combined with small pebbles.

The doors throughout are made of wooden strips assembled vertically and painted white, while the structural concrete ceilings cast onsite have been left bare, painted white. The polished concrete floors further contribute to a minimalist interior.

Cabrita Moleiro House
© Richard John Seymour


Cabrita Moleiro House
Plans
Cabrita Moleiro House
DIagrams


Cabrita Moleiro House
Site Plan
Cabrita Moleiro House
Axo

Atelier Data
T +351 218 123838
Atelier Data
R. São José 17, 1150-321 Lisboa, Portugal