An underground concrete house in Monsaraz, Portugal, by Aires Mateus is dug into a hillside and concealed by a green roof that cantilevers outwards.
Faced with the boundless extents of the Alqueva lake, the house requires a centre: a protected courtyard embracing the water. It uses the terrain to cast a dome that covers the social areas and is the life centre of the house. An inverted dome intersects it and creates an opening that lights the space, shaping its precise geometry and limits. The bedrooms open onto circular patios. Amid a wide natural landscape, the scale of the house is that of the patios and superior dome. They are the sole visible elements, painted in radiant white.
