Sitio Da Leziria is a former mews located in the highly agricultural region Alcácer do Sal of Portugal, which has now been redesigned into a contemporary residence by the architects Atelier Data. The project conserves the significance of the horse stable typography: the 'horse path' as an axis and for circulation; service walls that once provided sustenance for the horses now hold the modern day services of bathrooms and closets - and translates it into with minimalist architectural details and aesthetic.

I appreciate Atelier Data's sensibilities in approaching the project:

The conversion of the mews into housing, gave us the opportunity to think about domestic space and also to test the way that people can inhabit again ancient rural areas.

This project is the result of the first phase of a wide strategy that aims to revive an old agricultural land, combining new agricultural techniques with a new way of living.

I love the fact that they decided to use resistant and affordable materials as well as that fit both the logic of the modern usage of the building and the old mews, preserving the vernacular architecture as well as the details such as inviting the artist João Mouro to create the murals in all washbasins with recycled materials from other old buildings. The result is respectful of the past and relevant to the present.

Engineering by Emanuel Correia

Photography by Richard John Seymour