1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,064 I think it's time, Caroline, to go and see how the other half live. 2 00:00:04,064 --> 00:00:06,024 Talk about welcome to my humble abode. 3 00:00:06,024 --> 00:00:09,012 Cor! That is a whole lot of house. 4 00:00:11,044 --> 00:00:15,028 He's Piers Taylor, an award-winning architect. 5 00:00:15,028 --> 00:00:19,036 I mean, the depth of this wall, it's four foot thick. 6 00:00:19,036 --> 00:00:21,016 After you, my lord. 7 00:00:21,016 --> 00:00:22,096 And she's Caroline Quentin - 8 00:00:22,096 --> 00:00:26,048 acclaimed actress and passionate property developer. 9 00:00:26,048 --> 00:00:32,020 This house has the perfect ratio of bedrooms to swimming pools. 10 00:00:32,020 --> 00:00:37,004 We've been given the keys to some of the most incredible houses in the world. 11 00:00:37,004 --> 00:00:39,032 If we were left alone here for any amount of time, 12 00:00:39,032 --> 00:00:41,016 I have a feeling...We would ruin this house. 13 00:00:41,016 --> 00:00:42,064 THEY LAUGH 14 00:00:42,064 --> 00:00:44,072 To discover the design innovation, 15 00:00:44,072 --> 00:00:50,076 passion and endurance needed to transform architectural vision into an extraordinary home. 16 00:00:50,076 --> 00:00:53,032 It's so glamorous, Piers. 17 00:00:54,032 --> 00:00:56,020 We're travelling the globe. 18 00:00:56,020 --> 00:00:57,064 Ho-ho! 19 00:00:57,064 --> 00:01:01,052 Meeting architects and owners to explore how their daring homes respond 20 00:01:01,052 --> 00:01:05,052 uniquely to local landscape, climate and culture. 21 00:01:05,052 --> 00:01:08,084 I think this is probably the greatest house I've ever been in. 22 00:01:08,084 --> 00:01:13,012 Whether it's battling the elements to construct a dream home on dramatic 23 00:01:13,012 --> 00:01:15,012 Scandinavian terrain... 24 00:01:15,012 --> 00:01:18,012 The architect was nervous that things would go wrong. 25 00:01:18,012 --> 00:01:20,008 They couldn't bear to look at it. 26 00:01:20,008 --> 00:01:23,036 Pushing the boundaries of European experimentation... 27 00:01:23,036 --> 00:01:25,052 I think that's it.I think it is. 28 00:01:25,052 --> 00:01:29,052 When I looked at the proposal, at the beginning, I was almost shocked. 29 00:01:29,052 --> 00:01:33,036 Celebrating craftsmanship and beauty in Asia... 30 00:01:33,036 --> 00:01:38,092 They take away the extraneous, and they leave you with what is beautiful. 31 00:01:38,092 --> 00:01:42,004 Or going all out for glamour in America. 32 00:01:42,004 --> 00:01:46,032 You just do what you do best, is to create a masterpiece. 33 00:01:46,032 --> 00:01:48,092 AMERICAN ACCENT:Piers! Is this too Miami? 34 00:01:56,028 --> 00:02:00,004 We're in Portugal on the southwestern edge of Europe, 35 00:02:00,004 --> 00:02:04,096 a country of stunning landscapes, and a wild, rugged, Atlantic coastline. 36 00:02:06,072 --> 00:02:08,060 Have you been to Portugal before? 37 00:02:08,060 --> 00:02:11,016 I've never been to Portugal before. It's beautiful. 38 00:02:12,056 --> 00:02:16,016 I'm fascinated to discover more about Portugal. 39 00:02:16,016 --> 00:02:21,016 I've heard that there is real design ambition here and an exhibitionism 40 00:02:21,016 --> 00:02:22,096 below the surface. 41 00:02:22,096 --> 00:02:24,064 They're beautiful little settlements. 42 00:02:24,064 --> 00:02:27,020 I mean, I love the modesty of them all, you know? 43 00:02:27,020 --> 00:02:29,084 Nothing has been designed to be looked AT, has it?No. 44 00:02:31,020 --> 00:02:35,016 We're hitting the road to find Portugal's hidden architectural treasures. 45 00:02:36,016 --> 00:02:38,052 Risking life and limb... 46 00:02:38,052 --> 00:02:40,036 It's opening!Oh! 47 00:02:40,036 --> 00:02:41,048 CAROLINE LAUGHS 48 00:02:41,048 --> 00:02:44,080 ..exploring some of Portugal's most exciting homes. 49 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:49,056 It works for a space, and it leads you to what must be the main event, 50 00:02:49,056 --> 00:02:51,044 this extraordinary view. 51 00:02:51,044 --> 00:02:53,076 VOICEOVER:Where architects have been let loose... 52 00:02:53,076 --> 00:02:56,068 One, two, three... BOTH: Go! First one to touch the end! 53 00:02:56,068 --> 00:02:58,096 No! 54 00:02:58,096 --> 00:03:03,048 VOICEOVER:..to create phenomenal properties that respond sympathetically to their setting. 55 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,084 This is, without doubt, 56 00:03:07,084 --> 00:03:11,068 one of the biggest privileges of my life, to be in a house like this. 57 00:03:14,008 --> 00:03:18,020 We're starting in a beautiful and windswept region west of Lisbon known as 58 00:03:18,020 --> 00:03:19,068 the Portuguese Riviera. 59 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:27,056 And tucked away somewhere in this exclusive seaside neighbourhood 60 00:03:27,056 --> 00:03:29,084 is a discreet and beautiful modern home. 61 00:03:31,048 --> 00:03:32,088 Have you got the address there? 62 00:03:32,088 --> 00:03:35,012 Yeah, I think it says it's on the left somewhere. 63 00:03:35,012 --> 00:03:36,016 It says we're here.Oh. 64 00:03:39,024 --> 00:03:40,072 That's not at all what I expected. 65 00:03:42,008 --> 00:03:45,012 Er, it's not that one, Caroline, I think it's this one. 66 00:03:48,076 --> 00:03:51,040 Oh, yeah. That makes sense. 67 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:55,000 VOICEOVER: I like that, from the street, this house gives little away. 68 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:00,008 But, beyond the drawbridge, there is a complex and sophisticated three-dimensional puzzle. 69 00:04:00,008 --> 00:04:02,076 First, we need to work out how to get in. 70 00:04:02,076 --> 00:04:03,080 Have you got the key? 71 00:04:05,016 --> 00:04:06,044 Oh, here it is, sorry, sorry. 72 00:04:06,044 --> 00:04:09,092 OK, oh, OK. So, it's really... Hang on. Erm... 73 00:04:14,068 --> 00:04:16,016 CAROLINE LAUGHS 74 00:04:16,016 --> 00:04:18,036 That's very chic, isn't it? 75 00:04:19,036 --> 00:04:20,052 A moving hedge. 76 00:04:24,036 --> 00:04:27,048 What are you doing?!Sorry! Caroline.I'm sorry, I pressed the wrong button. 77 00:04:27,048 --> 00:04:31,028 I don't know what, I don't know! I could have been squashed like a bug in there!Sorry! 78 00:04:31,028 --> 00:04:33,080 Mine's opened.Everything's opening now. 79 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,052 Oh! I didn't know I'd done that! 80 00:04:36,052 --> 00:04:40,044 I think if you're going to press a button now, and this is going to come out like a drawbridge, isn't 81 00:04:40,044 --> 00:04:42,036 it, and throw me off the top.Yeah. 82 00:04:42,036 --> 00:04:46,000 Caroline Quentin in charge of a remote control - that is not a good thing. 83 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,072 CAROLINE LAUGHS 84 00:04:47,072 --> 00:04:49,040 It's very tactile. 85 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:50,084 Very beautiful. 86 00:04:50,084 --> 00:04:52,012 And very grand. 87 00:04:56,060 --> 00:05:02,016 This stunning family villa is a masterclass in understated beauty. 88 00:05:02,016 --> 00:05:06,056 Light and shade dance bewitchingly through the minimalist, stylish interior. 89 00:05:08,036 --> 00:05:12,068 The architects have created a kind of 21st-century castle with walls of 90 00:05:12,068 --> 00:05:16,064 concrete, glass and timber which all move at the touch of a button. 91 00:05:18,044 --> 00:05:22,036 The moving walls mean that this is a house that works with the landscape 92 00:05:22,036 --> 00:05:24,020 as well as the highly changeable weather. 93 00:05:30,036 --> 00:05:34,040 It's eight foot wide and eight foot high and I can operate it with a single finger. 94 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,052 Of course, a house like this wouldn't have a front door with a 95 00:05:37,052 --> 00:05:39,076 conventional, you know, latch, etc. 96 00:05:41,012 --> 00:05:46,048 And at first glance, it's difficult to tell what's inside and what's outside. 97 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:54,068 There's a garden inside this house. 98 00:05:54,068 --> 00:05:56,076 And there is also... 99 00:05:56,076 --> 00:06:00,024 the most marvellous car downstairs, that I'm going to have to show you. 100 00:06:00,024 --> 00:06:02,068 Can I go now? Can I have a look? No, not immediately.Oh. 101 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:06,040 Gosh, this is good. 102 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:07,084 Oh. 103 00:06:09,060 --> 00:06:11,048 It's a breathtaking room. 104 00:06:16,024 --> 00:06:19,068 I've just seen a golf buggy go past. That's hilarious! 105 00:06:19,068 --> 00:06:22,084 It's got the most amazing view in the world and then there's 106 00:06:22,084 --> 00:06:26,072 a load of people with sun visors on, zooming past! 107 00:06:26,072 --> 00:06:31,024 Because Portugal is one of the golf capitals of the world. 108 00:06:31,024 --> 00:06:34,072 Why would you build what is clearly one of the most beautiful houses in 109 00:06:34,072 --> 00:06:37,060 the world on the seventh tee or whatever? 110 00:06:37,060 --> 00:06:39,072 Because I guess they're incredibly keen golfers. 111 00:06:39,072 --> 00:06:42,040 That whole wall opens up, I think, 112 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,036 which means that you can swing your bat, you could kick off from here, couldn't you? 113 00:06:46,036 --> 00:06:49,040 You could... Kick off? Bless you.What do you do? 114 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:50,060 I think they tee off. 115 00:06:50,060 --> 00:06:53,064 And again, look, there, you could just open this up. 116 00:06:53,064 --> 00:06:57,032 And then you've got a swimming pool IN your sitting room. 117 00:06:58,060 --> 00:07:02,016 But this house has many other interesting surprises. 118 00:07:02,016 --> 00:07:03,072 Oh... 119 00:07:03,072 --> 00:07:05,032 This is the room, isn't it? 120 00:07:05,032 --> 00:07:07,016 So, that's the second swimming pool. 121 00:07:07,016 --> 00:07:09,048 That's the second swimming pool on the roof. 122 00:07:12,072 --> 00:07:17,004 The courtyard is designed to keep out the strong winds that come in from the Atlantic, 123 00:07:17,004 --> 00:07:21,092 but it's also where the combination of light and water is used in a very architectural way. 124 00:07:26,044 --> 00:07:28,036 It's a two-pool house. 125 00:07:28,036 --> 00:07:31,000 That's my dream house, a two-pool house. 126 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,012 Actually, a single-pool house is my dream house, 127 00:07:34,012 --> 00:07:36,052 so a two-pool house is just... 128 00:07:36,052 --> 00:07:39,020 It's unimaginably marvellous. 129 00:07:39,020 --> 00:07:43,064 It's so glamorous, Piers, isn't it? 130 00:07:43,064 --> 00:07:47,060 It's lovely, but it also is a very sensible way of making a space in a hot climate 131 00:07:47,060 --> 00:07:50,092 because, in summer, you can cross-vent all of this and use it, 132 00:07:50,092 --> 00:07:55,040 you're in the shade, but, in winter, you can use this to have lunch, to hang around. It's great! 133 00:07:57,012 --> 00:08:01,008 Inside Wall House's heavy exterior shell is a family home. 134 00:08:02,088 --> 00:08:07,020 Above a basement with guest bedrooms and garage and a recreation room 135 00:08:07,020 --> 00:08:08,096 are the main living spaces. 136 00:08:08,096 --> 00:08:12,012 An open-plan kitchen and sitting room are arranged around 137 00:08:12,012 --> 00:08:13,084 the enclosed courtyard and pool. 138 00:08:16,032 --> 00:08:18,088 Above are three family bedrooms, 139 00:08:18,088 --> 00:08:24,016 bathrooms and a series of balconies all overlooking a transparent swimming pool. 140 00:08:25,076 --> 00:08:28,032 This creates a canopy for the courtyard below, 141 00:08:28,032 --> 00:08:30,048 providing a beautiful quality of light. 142 00:08:32,064 --> 00:08:37,020 And the light from the pool is beautiful coming through, or the shade, I guess. 143 00:08:37,020 --> 00:08:39,052 Dappled over your dining area. 144 00:08:40,052 --> 00:08:43,084 It's a really usable, contained courtyard in the middle of a house, 145 00:08:43,084 --> 00:08:46,060 and this house has lots of glamour, lots of style. 146 00:08:46,060 --> 00:08:49,076 And this pine is beautiful. This is really good quality. 147 00:08:49,076 --> 00:08:53,020 It's very wide, very beautiful timber, 148 00:08:53,020 --> 00:08:56,056 That's carefully selected. I mean, there's no knots, you know, it's lovely stuff. 149 00:08:56,056 --> 00:09:00,056 And, actually, as a palette of materials here, you know, blue sky, grey concrete, 150 00:09:00,056 --> 00:09:04,016 blue pool, grey timber, it's a really good palette, isn't it? 151 00:09:04,016 --> 00:09:06,000 I love it. I absolutely love it. 152 00:09:09,084 --> 00:09:12,036 It looks like you can open these up, 153 00:09:12,036 --> 00:09:17,044 and when it's a hot day just really take advantage of that wonderful breeze. 154 00:09:19,016 --> 00:09:21,012 Why don't you press that button, Caroline? 155 00:09:21,012 --> 00:09:23,000 Which button?Just on the wall there. 156 00:09:24,044 --> 00:09:28,084 The landscape is welcomed into the house through an enormous expanse of 157 00:09:28,084 --> 00:09:32,088 glass that makes up the entire side elevation of the house. 158 00:09:34,036 --> 00:09:37,088 It's operated using a simple counterweight system. 159 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,060 And there you are, we're out there with all those people in slacks and jumpers. 160 00:09:46,060 --> 00:09:48,040 That'll be us in a couple of years. 161 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,032 This is a fully automated house, 162 00:09:55,032 --> 00:09:59,080 and major walls can move and disappear depending on the prevailing weather conditions. 163 00:10:04,088 --> 00:10:08,032 Most houses have doors and windows that open, but this house has walls that move, 164 00:10:08,032 --> 00:10:11,056 big pieces of wall that move in different configurations, 165 00:10:11,056 --> 00:10:13,064 and they're made of timber, concrete, glass, 166 00:10:13,064 --> 00:10:16,064 and all of those things together provide a range of different spaces. 167 00:10:16,064 --> 00:10:18,072 It's really unusual, actually. 168 00:10:18,072 --> 00:10:23,080 Here, what's lovely is that a wall is a device that, I guess, 169 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:29,068 is like a castle would have used a wall historically as the device... It's a fortress, isn't it? 170 00:10:29,068 --> 00:10:32,092 Yeah, to enclose a space. It is a fortress that has a number of different 171 00:10:32,092 --> 00:10:38,028 ways that that wall can open and move and slide around. 172 00:10:38,028 --> 00:10:39,060 21st-century fortress. 173 00:10:41,036 --> 00:10:43,004 If it were a fortress, 174 00:10:43,004 --> 00:10:46,016 this house wouldn't be a bad place to be under siege, 175 00:10:46,016 --> 00:10:49,044 with a state-of-the-art kitchen, a games and cinema room. 176 00:10:50,044 --> 00:10:53,060 Should the enemy breach the ramparts, this being Portugal, 177 00:10:53,060 --> 00:10:58,008 I could fortify myself for battle with some very quaffable vintage port. 178 00:11:02,028 --> 00:11:04,056 This is an enormous house. 179 00:11:08,076 --> 00:11:12,036 The second pool, the upstairs pool, 180 00:11:12,036 --> 00:11:15,024 which is absolutely stunningly beautiful... 181 00:11:18,028 --> 00:11:19,032 Bedroom... 182 00:11:21,044 --> 00:11:23,052 ..and, oh, I appear to be in the bathroom. 183 00:11:24,056 --> 00:11:25,060 Oh, I am in the bathroom. 184 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:28,044 Can't be a bathroom without a door. 185 00:11:34,036 --> 00:11:35,076 Tiny, little door. 186 00:11:40,072 --> 00:11:42,020 DOOR SHUTS GENTLY 187 00:11:45,052 --> 00:11:47,024 And, if you want to, 188 00:11:47,024 --> 00:11:50,084 you can watch the golfers from the third swimming pool. 189 00:12:00,016 --> 00:12:02,040 Master bedroom, I fancy. 190 00:12:06,088 --> 00:12:09,000 Lovely place to sit outside the bedroom. 191 00:12:10,088 --> 00:12:13,048 Look down on both pools. 192 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,004 And relax. 193 00:12:19,044 --> 00:12:20,048 If I must. 194 00:12:22,028 --> 00:12:25,032 # Summer breeze makes me feel fine... # 195 00:12:27,004 --> 00:12:31,036 And what could be better after a rest than a bracing swim in mid-air? 196 00:12:35,044 --> 00:12:36,080 What are you doing, Taylor? 197 00:12:38,028 --> 00:12:39,056 HE LAUGHS 198 00:12:40,076 --> 00:12:41,080 Mad. 199 00:12:43,092 --> 00:12:46,020 This house is called Wall House for good reason. 200 00:12:46,020 --> 00:12:51,008 The wall defines the buildable limits of the plot. 201 00:12:51,008 --> 00:12:54,024 So, outside of the wall sits, you know, 202 00:12:54,024 --> 00:12:57,008 the sort of unguarded landscape. 203 00:12:57,008 --> 00:13:00,092 That is the landscape, and whistling in comes 204 00:13:00,092 --> 00:13:03,016 that cold, Atlantic wind, 205 00:13:03,016 --> 00:13:06,096 and the wall contains and stops that wind from entering. 206 00:13:06,096 --> 00:13:09,016 So, within the wall, the question is how do you get in? 207 00:13:09,016 --> 00:13:11,044 And there is a bridge. 208 00:13:11,044 --> 00:13:13,036 I mean, it's like an ancient drawbridge 209 00:13:13,036 --> 00:13:17,020 that brings you up to the front door and into the house. 210 00:13:17,020 --> 00:13:18,064 With this contained space, 211 00:13:18,064 --> 00:13:24,024 what there is then is a very simple L-shaped building. 212 00:13:24,024 --> 00:13:29,016 That L-shaped building is then dropped into the courtyard. 213 00:13:29,016 --> 00:13:34,040 And it's that comes down, sits in this position, facing south... 214 00:13:35,068 --> 00:13:40,016 ..gathering the winter sun, then, last, and perhaps most importantly, 215 00:13:40,016 --> 00:13:42,004 if you're Caroline Quentin, 216 00:13:42,004 --> 00:13:44,060 that courtyard contains this swimming pool. 217 00:13:48,004 --> 00:13:51,056 This house is interesting in how it manages to make a virtue out of its 218 00:13:51,056 --> 00:13:53,080 exposed position near the Atlantic... 219 00:13:55,044 --> 00:13:57,068 ..by containing a set of protected spaces, 220 00:13:57,068 --> 00:14:00,008 where light and water are used poetically. 221 00:14:02,076 --> 00:14:07,084 I'm meeting the architects who designed this house, Marco and Jose. 222 00:14:07,084 --> 00:14:12,008 Tell me what you think the essential component of the design is. 223 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,060 THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER 224 00:14:15,060 --> 00:14:19,016 We did the house for the weather and today it's a very good... 225 00:14:19,016 --> 00:14:20,044 It's a very good day. 226 00:14:20,044 --> 00:14:21,064 Sunny, windy. 227 00:14:21,064 --> 00:14:23,024 Sunny, windy. 228 00:14:23,024 --> 00:14:25,048 And the way the light works is very beautiful. 229 00:14:25,048 --> 00:14:27,024 It's particularly unusual here, though, 230 00:14:27,024 --> 00:14:30,072 because it's constantly moving because of the pool on the roof. 231 00:14:30,072 --> 00:14:35,048 And that was presumably a big design decision early on to place the pool 232 00:14:35,048 --> 00:14:37,096 on the roof...On the first floor. 233 00:14:37,096 --> 00:14:41,084 Because we want to create a cover 234 00:14:41,084 --> 00:14:45,036 to the eating exterior area. 235 00:14:45,036 --> 00:14:47,092 But we don't want to lose the light. 236 00:14:47,092 --> 00:14:51,024 So we thought to create liquid... 237 00:14:51,024 --> 00:14:55,096 Some liquid element that let light inside the patio. 238 00:14:55,096 --> 00:14:58,020 The pool has huge pieces of glass. 239 00:14:58,020 --> 00:15:00,068 How was that engineered and built? 240 00:15:00,068 --> 00:15:03,016 The bottom of...It's not glass. It's not glass? 241 00:15:03,016 --> 00:15:07,028 It's acrylic.Acrylic? OK. It's acrylic, it's acrylic. 242 00:15:07,028 --> 00:15:09,076 Creating a transparent pool was a big challenge. 243 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,020 Four huge acrylic panels, 13 centimetres thick, 244 00:15:15,020 --> 00:15:17,044 in steel frames weighing eight tonnes each, 245 00:15:17,044 --> 00:15:20,008 had to be craned over the top of the house. 246 00:15:21,072 --> 00:15:24,012 Once carefully lowered into position, 247 00:15:24,012 --> 00:15:27,024 they were sealed with special silicon to make them watertight. 248 00:15:29,056 --> 00:15:33,056 The pool contains 55 tonnes of water. 249 00:15:33,056 --> 00:15:37,016 Yet, because it's unsupported on two sides, it looks weightless. 250 00:15:38,024 --> 00:15:42,028 This effect is created by a counterweight in the ground and hefty 251 00:15:42,028 --> 00:15:44,036 steelwork in the supporting wall. 252 00:15:46,072 --> 00:15:50,016 This is a building where you see every single bit of construction. 253 00:15:50,016 --> 00:15:53,000 You've got nowhere to hide if anything goes wrong.Of course. 254 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,040 We use the structure like a finished house. 255 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:57,072 We don't cover the structure. 256 00:15:57,072 --> 00:16:00,064 It's part of the architecture in disguise. 257 00:16:00,064 --> 00:16:03,020 This has no finishes in the conventional sense. 258 00:16:03,020 --> 00:16:08,008 Yes.Yes. And very difficult to do it, because the people, they say, 259 00:16:08,008 --> 00:16:12,032 "Ah, this is not finished, so, it's easy to do." 260 00:16:12,032 --> 00:16:13,092 No.Not easy. 261 00:16:13,092 --> 00:16:15,036 It's very hard.Not easy at all! 262 00:16:15,036 --> 00:16:18,072 Do you think these guys over here are going to wonder when you're going to 263 00:16:18,072 --> 00:16:21,040 render it and paint it pink and put the cornice on top? 264 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,024 THEY LAUGH 265 00:16:23,024 --> 00:16:25,024 Yes.No, they are different languages. 266 00:16:25,024 --> 00:16:27,068 This is a house that's very beautifully made, 267 00:16:27,068 --> 00:16:29,020 it's put together with real craft. 268 00:16:29,020 --> 00:16:35,024 This is the guarantee of the quality of the architecture. 269 00:16:39,084 --> 00:16:41,092 Sometimes, doing this, 270 00:16:41,092 --> 00:16:46,060 it's easy to take for granted that you see some of the most brilliant places. 271 00:16:46,060 --> 00:16:48,048 But this... 272 00:16:50,008 --> 00:16:55,020 ..is without doubt one of the biggest privileges of my life, to be in a house like this. 273 00:16:55,020 --> 00:16:59,004 Everywhere you turn there's something beautiful, 274 00:16:59,004 --> 00:17:03,012 something fun, something interesting, something challenging. 275 00:17:03,012 --> 00:17:04,052 It's a real treat. 276 00:17:06,092 --> 00:17:09,020 Hi, Piers.Hello. 277 00:17:09,020 --> 00:17:14,076 What are you up to? I'm really struck by this house as a sort of mini citadel, in some ways.Yeah. 278 00:17:14,076 --> 00:17:18,072 It has a bounding fortress-like wall that keeps the outside out. 279 00:17:18,072 --> 00:17:22,000 And the wall is the device that deals with keeping the city, 280 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,012 the neighbours, the weather at bay. 281 00:17:24,012 --> 00:17:25,044 It deals with views. 282 00:17:25,044 --> 00:17:27,072 Views in, views out, all of that sort of stuff. 283 00:17:27,072 --> 00:17:30,056 Deals with arrival across that drawbridge. 284 00:17:30,056 --> 00:17:32,060 In a way, it is another world in here. 285 00:17:32,060 --> 00:17:34,060 It's interesting, the house, isn't it, 286 00:17:34,060 --> 00:17:39,068 because everywhere you look when you first arrive is closed off. 287 00:17:39,068 --> 00:17:42,064 But now that we've started to open up 288 00:17:42,064 --> 00:17:45,040 all the sides of the house, the walls of the house, 289 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,080 it becomes an entirely different living space. 290 00:17:51,072 --> 00:17:54,020 POOL WATER RIPPLES 291 00:17:55,072 --> 00:17:57,068 My idea of heaven is to have a pool... 292 00:17:59,044 --> 00:18:01,044 ..directly off the bedroom. 293 00:18:01,044 --> 00:18:04,048 I think if you're going to build a luxury house, and this is, 294 00:18:04,048 --> 00:18:09,040 let's face it, a luxury house, then, for me, that's what it's all about. 295 00:18:14,008 --> 00:18:16,000 But even us mere mortals, you know, 296 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,008 who live in ordinary, domestic places, 297 00:18:19,008 --> 00:18:23,036 flats and bed sitting rooms and suburban houses, 298 00:18:23,036 --> 00:18:25,040 we can glean something from this. 299 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,048 We can. I mean, this is a really lavish house, a really expensive, 300 00:18:28,048 --> 00:18:31,064 lavish house, but the best thing about it is free. 301 00:18:31,064 --> 00:18:36,012 It's daylight. It's beautiful light that comes flooding in everywhere. 302 00:18:36,012 --> 00:18:37,016 And we can all use that. 303 00:18:42,032 --> 00:18:44,012 Shh, don't say anything. 304 00:18:46,052 --> 00:18:49,016 Every country has its archetype in terms of houses. 305 00:18:49,016 --> 00:18:50,092 In England, it's the country cottage. 306 00:18:50,092 --> 00:18:52,092 In Australia, it's a veranda house. 307 00:18:52,092 --> 00:18:55,056 In the American Midwest, it's the prairie house. 308 00:18:55,056 --> 00:18:57,072 And in Portugal, it's the courtyard house. 309 00:18:57,072 --> 00:19:00,072 And this is very much an archetypal Portuguese house. 310 00:19:00,072 --> 00:19:03,068 Here's that car I told you about. 311 00:19:03,068 --> 00:19:04,092 Hop in.This? 312 00:19:04,092 --> 00:19:07,032 Yes! This?Yes! 313 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,036 Come on. 314 00:19:10,036 --> 00:19:12,028 How many horsepower has it got? 315 00:19:12,028 --> 00:19:13,044 Half a horsepower. 316 00:19:13,044 --> 00:19:14,048 PIERS LAUGHS 317 00:19:14,048 --> 00:19:18,020 As much as that? Yeah.Actually, your visor matches my jacket. 318 00:19:18,020 --> 00:19:21,028 Oh, you can really rock a visor, Piers. 319 00:19:21,028 --> 00:19:23,012 Shall we have that round of golf, then?Yeah. 320 00:19:32,036 --> 00:19:35,044 But there's only so far you can get in a golf buggy. 321 00:19:35,044 --> 00:19:38,096 And we have to travel hundreds of kilometres to our next destination. 322 00:19:41,020 --> 00:19:43,088 We're going into the medieval heart of Portugal. 323 00:19:46,056 --> 00:19:49,080 Penela is a hilly farming region known for its vineyards, 324 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:54,008 olive groves and hilltop towns, with roads designed for horse and cart. 325 00:19:59,048 --> 00:20:01,048 Tiny town.Tiny streets. 326 00:20:01,048 --> 00:20:03,008 This absurdly large car. 327 00:20:04,016 --> 00:20:07,064 I don't think we're going to get through there.No, I don't think we... 328 00:20:07,064 --> 00:20:09,016 CAROLINE HUMS NERVOUSLY 329 00:20:09,016 --> 00:20:10,088 Piers, how are you going to get out of here? 330 00:20:10,088 --> 00:20:13,000 I'm actually a really good driver. Trust me. 331 00:20:14,048 --> 00:20:16,072 Yeah, yeah, ooh! Slow down, slow down. 332 00:20:16,072 --> 00:20:19,008 OK, now I'm going back.OK. 333 00:20:19,008 --> 00:20:20,076 I think... Stop! 334 00:20:20,076 --> 00:20:23,000 Stop! Stop! Stop, Piers! 335 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:24,032 SENSOR BEEPS RAPIDLY 336 00:20:25,060 --> 00:20:26,072 Mind her frog. 337 00:20:27,088 --> 00:20:29,084 I'm going back, I'm going back, I'm going back. 338 00:20:31,056 --> 00:20:33,012 She said go up that way. 339 00:20:33,012 --> 00:20:37,000 No, I can, I can do it.He's an architect, he won't listen to me. 340 00:20:38,020 --> 00:20:40,024 All right, OK, good this side. 341 00:20:40,024 --> 00:20:42,004 Good this side. Look at that.Very gently. 342 00:20:45,032 --> 00:20:47,052 This town's not big enough for us, Piers. 343 00:20:48,052 --> 00:20:50,024 You've done it, you've cracked it. 344 00:20:51,020 --> 00:20:52,072 Hola. Obrigado. 345 00:20:56,072 --> 00:20:58,016 There we are.Oh. 346 00:20:58,016 --> 00:21:01,012 What's wrong with that? Easy. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 347 00:21:03,064 --> 00:21:06,024 Maybe we'll get into less trouble on foot. 348 00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:12,048 That's a lovely view. 349 00:21:12,048 --> 00:21:13,088 Isn't that gorgeous? 350 00:21:13,088 --> 00:21:15,016 Too perfect to be real. 351 00:21:15,016 --> 00:21:19,080 It is. Every bit of this land has been terraced for probably 2,000 years, 352 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,068 hasn't it?Makes it very, very beautiful to look at, doesn't it? 353 00:21:23,068 --> 00:21:26,008 Cos it carries your eye all over the place. 354 00:21:26,008 --> 00:21:30,012 And very difficult to place a building because, actually, how do you not destroy those terraces? 355 00:21:31,036 --> 00:21:35,040 Built as a second home for a British couple seeking a change of pace, 356 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,076 our next house delivers exactly what they were looking for. 357 00:21:38,076 --> 00:21:43,076 Fresh air, magnificent views and plenty of space. 358 00:21:43,076 --> 00:21:48,004 This dramatic holiday home, set in a former olive grove, 359 00:21:48,004 --> 00:21:51,044 is hidden behind a simple, rustic entrance. 360 00:21:51,044 --> 00:21:53,032 Look at the depth of it. Seriously, look. 361 00:21:53,032 --> 00:21:55,056 This is... I mean, you could lose me in here. 362 00:21:55,056 --> 00:21:57,036 It's opening. 363 00:21:57,036 --> 00:21:59,072 CAROLINE LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY 364 00:22:00,096 --> 00:22:02,000 Bloody hell. 365 00:22:03,048 --> 00:22:05,048 Do you know, by rushing into the house like that, 366 00:22:05,048 --> 00:22:07,064 you've rather missed this beautiful entrance. 367 00:22:07,064 --> 00:22:09,048 This reveal. I mean, this is beautiful. 368 00:22:09,048 --> 00:22:14,052 This is a tiny, three-mil thick bit of steel which frames this entrance and, 369 00:22:14,052 --> 00:22:18,052 in a way, stops you seeing into this dry-stone wall. 370 00:22:18,052 --> 00:22:20,052 Which is beautiful. I mean, this wall is lovely. 371 00:22:20,052 --> 00:22:24,012 I mean, it's really lovely. Tactile. I love the juxtaposition of this steel, 372 00:22:24,012 --> 00:22:28,032 the smoothness with the roughness of this beautiful hewn rock. 373 00:22:28,032 --> 00:22:30,052 Yeah. Clever, isn't it?Lovely. 374 00:22:30,052 --> 00:22:32,004 And very beautiful. 375 00:22:32,004 --> 00:22:34,040 Shall we go and try make an elegant entrance this time? 376 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,080 Yeah, you'd better have a go this time. Yeah, OK.I'll just stand here and fall about. 377 00:22:39,032 --> 00:22:41,032 Beyond the traditional facade, 378 00:22:41,032 --> 00:22:44,048 Casa na Gateira dramatically reveals itself. 379 00:22:46,052 --> 00:22:49,024 # Suddenly I see 380 00:22:49,024 --> 00:22:50,092 # This is what I wanna be 381 00:22:50,092 --> 00:22:52,008 # Suddenly I see 382 00:22:54,012 --> 00:22:56,024 # Why the hell it means so much... # 383 00:22:56,024 --> 00:23:00,004 This house is so embedded in the landscape that you can only really 384 00:23:00,004 --> 00:23:04,004 understand its unconventional snakelike shape from the air. 385 00:23:06,060 --> 00:23:10,012 Time now to see how it works inside. 386 00:23:10,012 --> 00:23:13,008 This is presumably the same levels, 387 00:23:13,008 --> 00:23:16,024 the same shape that the landscape had before there was a house here. 388 00:23:16,024 --> 00:23:19,060 You know, if you followed this outside, this terrace would continue through. 389 00:23:19,060 --> 00:23:22,056 In exactly the same way that the olive trees are growing...That's right. 390 00:23:22,056 --> 00:23:25,084 ..just the olive trees would be here, only we're here instead of the olive trees. 391 00:23:25,084 --> 00:23:29,096 You're literally following the profile of the land all the time. 392 00:23:29,096 --> 00:23:34,016 I mean, you know, you would never design a kitchen with a step in the middle of it, 393 00:23:34,016 --> 00:23:37,028 but, actually, that probably was the level of the ground. 394 00:23:37,028 --> 00:23:40,028 They've decided to keep that terrace visible, which is beautiful. 395 00:23:40,028 --> 00:23:42,004 And it works, for a space. 396 00:23:42,004 --> 00:23:47,064 It really does work.And it leads you to what must be the main event, this extraordinary view. 397 00:23:51,068 --> 00:23:54,092 The challenge for the architect was to build a house that stepped down 398 00:23:54,092 --> 00:23:57,024 the hill with the existing terraces. 399 00:23:57,024 --> 00:23:59,028 This has resulted in its unusual form. 400 00:24:00,064 --> 00:24:04,088 At the highest point is a garage, a small gym, and a guest bedroom. 401 00:24:07,020 --> 00:24:11,008 A staircase leads down to the other levels, with an open kitchen, 402 00:24:11,008 --> 00:24:13,008 living room and dining space. 403 00:24:14,016 --> 00:24:17,032 Beyond is the main bedroom and another one for guests. 404 00:24:18,084 --> 00:24:21,012 By separating each part of the house, 405 00:24:21,012 --> 00:24:24,040 all of the rooms are given access and views to the outdoors. 406 00:24:30,084 --> 00:24:34,004 Appropriately, in a region known for its wine, 407 00:24:34,004 --> 00:24:37,040 the architects have used cork on some of the walls. 408 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:41,072 A local material with a complex texture and soft to the touch, 409 00:24:41,072 --> 00:24:43,008 it looks great. 410 00:24:45,052 --> 00:24:50,008 The use of cork in this house is absolutely right, because cork has been 411 00:24:50,008 --> 00:24:55,036 harvested in Portugal for over 300 years and it's done manually, because 412 00:24:55,036 --> 00:24:57,080 they haven't found a mechanical way of doing it. 413 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:02,064 So, people have been slicing the bark off these trees and using it in their 414 00:25:02,064 --> 00:25:04,072 homes for such a long time. 415 00:25:04,072 --> 00:25:06,028 It's wonderful to see it used here, 416 00:25:06,028 --> 00:25:09,020 not just decoratively but also acoustically. 417 00:25:09,020 --> 00:25:12,004 Because in these predominantly concrete houses, 418 00:25:12,004 --> 00:25:15,096 and we've seen a lot of them, acoustics can be a real problem. 419 00:25:15,096 --> 00:25:18,080 And this just deadens that bouncing sound. 420 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:19,084 Works really well. 421 00:25:24,076 --> 00:25:26,020 This is clever. 422 00:25:26,020 --> 00:25:31,032 You can come through your wardrobe, your dressing room, 423 00:25:31,032 --> 00:25:32,088 open this little secret door, 424 00:25:32,088 --> 00:25:36,092 sneak out there and have a cup of coffee in the early morning shade. 425 00:25:39,056 --> 00:25:42,040 And then the bedroom, very, very simple. 426 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,012 Just pure white design. 427 00:25:44,012 --> 00:25:46,016 Mandatory panda. 428 00:25:50,024 --> 00:25:52,060 And a bathroom that makes the most of the view. 429 00:25:55,024 --> 00:25:56,028 And, out here... 430 00:25:59,044 --> 00:26:01,040 ..another lovely outside space. 431 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,092 The sunshine first thing in the morning. 432 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:10,008 This is where I'd sit. 433 00:26:16,068 --> 00:26:21,068 The hierarchy of spaces in this house are really well considered, 434 00:26:21,068 --> 00:26:22,080 beautifully organised. 435 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,044 I mean, the kitchen is the command centre, 436 00:26:25,044 --> 00:26:28,020 right in the middle of the house, looking at everything, 437 00:26:28,020 --> 00:26:31,088 looking at the view, of course, but looking at every corner of the house. 438 00:26:31,088 --> 00:26:34,088 And I sense this is where the action is. 439 00:26:34,088 --> 00:26:37,080 And of course, then, in front of that is this main living room, 440 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,044 organised along the terrace at the view. 441 00:26:52,064 --> 00:26:57,028 Houses like this that are very open plan do need more living spaces that 442 00:26:57,028 --> 00:27:02,064 you can shut off, if you really do want an intimate, private moment. 443 00:27:03,068 --> 00:27:06,056 Excuse me, I'm trying to have an intimate, private moment. 444 00:27:08,008 --> 00:27:09,012 All right. 445 00:27:10,088 --> 00:27:13,056 I think I might make myself scarce. 446 00:27:15,060 --> 00:27:19,056 The geometry of this house is complex 447 00:27:19,056 --> 00:27:21,064 and difficult to understand at first glance. 448 00:27:21,064 --> 00:27:26,072 But if you draw the landscape, the house makes total sense. 449 00:27:26,072 --> 00:27:30,056 And, in many ways, you wonder how it could be any other way. 450 00:27:30,056 --> 00:27:36,064 If you draw the diagram of how you move from one terrace to the next, 451 00:27:36,064 --> 00:27:38,036 what you end up with is... 452 00:27:39,060 --> 00:27:43,096 ..a set of spaces that just encapsulate the route 453 00:27:43,096 --> 00:27:48,040 you would have taken down, across the terrace. 454 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:53,064 Even the pool here is another terrace. 455 00:27:53,064 --> 00:27:56,064 And what you have is the integrity... 456 00:27:57,076 --> 00:27:59,036 ..of all of these terraces... 457 00:28:00,044 --> 00:28:02,052 ..retained. And that's pretty rare. 458 00:28:02,052 --> 00:28:05,068 Usually the shape of the ancient landscape, 459 00:28:05,068 --> 00:28:08,016 when you put a new building in it, is demolished. 460 00:28:09,032 --> 00:28:12,036 That's absolutely the opposite to this building, 461 00:28:12,036 --> 00:28:13,080 and that's why I love this house. 462 00:28:15,064 --> 00:28:20,036 This rural retreat was built for British couple Neil and Shirley. 463 00:28:20,036 --> 00:28:26,020 And they used an appropriately 21st-century method to build a very modern home. 464 00:28:26,020 --> 00:28:30,096 It's kind of an internet house in that we found the plot online, 465 00:28:30,096 --> 00:28:33,096 we found the architect online, and we designed it with them, 466 00:28:33,096 --> 00:28:36,040 and the four of us came up with this design, 467 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:41,072 which they nicknamed The Snake, because the house does snake down the landscape. 468 00:28:41,072 --> 00:28:44,060 Why did you decide on Portugal? 469 00:28:44,060 --> 00:28:49,016 Research online showed that there was land available here that was affordable. 470 00:28:49,016 --> 00:28:52,036 There were good architectural practices. 471 00:28:52,036 --> 00:28:54,016 We didn't want golf courses and beaches. 472 00:28:54,016 --> 00:28:59,088 No. We wanted vineyards, hills, mountains, countryside.Views. 473 00:28:59,088 --> 00:29:01,056 And that's really why we ended up here. 474 00:29:02,072 --> 00:29:05,048 When you saw The Snake, I mean, it's kind of... 475 00:29:05,048 --> 00:29:09,068 It's a much more interesting building that some people might have wanted, I think. 476 00:29:09,068 --> 00:29:13,004 Yeah, I mean, it's all about form following function. 477 00:29:13,004 --> 00:29:17,028 One of the reasons for the shape is the two guest bedrooms have got their 478 00:29:17,028 --> 00:29:20,044 own little corridors, so, during the day, 479 00:29:20,044 --> 00:29:25,068 we can be together all we like but, in the evening, people get peace and quiet. 480 00:29:25,068 --> 00:29:30,048 So, that's partly how we've ended up with this, kind of, three-headed snake. 481 00:29:30,048 --> 00:29:33,048 Why did you want to build a contemporary house? 482 00:29:35,036 --> 00:29:39,048 Just an opportunity to build a living space 483 00:29:39,048 --> 00:29:41,088 from square one. 484 00:29:41,088 --> 00:29:46,044 This is probably the only opportunity we'll have in our lifetime to 485 00:29:46,044 --> 00:29:51,036 create something that's just completely designed for how we want to live in it. 486 00:29:52,068 --> 00:29:54,004 So... 487 00:29:54,004 --> 00:29:57,096 That's a great opportunity to have and we think we've made the most of it. 488 00:29:57,096 --> 00:30:00,084 But are you enjoying life here in Portugal? 489 00:30:00,084 --> 00:30:02,040 Oh, yeah, I like it here. 490 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,052 I mean, I just find it so relaxing. 491 00:30:04,052 --> 00:30:07,048 Just looking at that view, I just love it. 492 00:30:11,036 --> 00:30:13,056 The architects Vasco and Patricia 493 00:30:13,056 --> 00:30:15,080 have come to talk to me about their approach, 494 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,092 and how they designed the house. 495 00:30:20,088 --> 00:30:24,076 Your clients were two British people that had never really spent any time 496 00:30:24,076 --> 00:30:27,052 here. How was that as a process for you? 497 00:30:27,052 --> 00:30:33,044 They specifically chose this place because they were not familiar with it. 498 00:30:33,044 --> 00:30:37,052 And they want to have this balance and come close to nature, 499 00:30:37,052 --> 00:30:40,084 and they can have loads of space for each room. 500 00:30:40,084 --> 00:30:43,052 What did they say when you showed them this? 501 00:30:43,052 --> 00:30:44,096 I think they were surprised. 502 00:30:44,096 --> 00:30:48,088 My feeling was that they didn't quite know what to think of it because it 503 00:30:48,088 --> 00:30:52,052 was weird, it was not easy to perceive. 504 00:30:52,052 --> 00:30:54,068 The shape seemed complicated. 505 00:30:54,068 --> 00:30:59,000 I think that when we started describing the experience that we wanted them 506 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,008 to have of the site inside the house and throughout the house, 507 00:31:03,008 --> 00:31:08,064 then they understood that it could be very simple on top of the landscape. 508 00:31:08,064 --> 00:31:13,048 And building this house in a place where there are very few new houses, 509 00:31:13,048 --> 00:31:16,012 certainly no new houses that look like this, 510 00:31:16,012 --> 00:31:20,036 technically they level a site, and they put something in it, 511 00:31:20,036 --> 00:31:23,004 they build a big fence around it, how was that? 512 00:31:23,004 --> 00:31:24,072 When we arrived here, it was all here. 513 00:31:24,072 --> 00:31:28,000 I mean, the vineyards were beautiful to look at, 514 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,080 and the scent of the olive trees of the neighbour, 515 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,096 the sounds of the nature nearby, everything is here. 516 00:31:34,096 --> 00:31:38,036 And if you do as little as possible, 517 00:31:38,036 --> 00:31:41,068 I think you have more a feeling of being part of this. 518 00:31:44,048 --> 00:31:48,052 CAROLINE: Casa na Gateira is clearly the result of successful and happy 519 00:31:48,052 --> 00:31:51,096 collaboration between architects and clients. 520 00:31:53,096 --> 00:31:56,020 I feel that we've been in Portugal for four days. 521 00:31:56,020 --> 00:32:00,048 We don't really understand what it is, as a... 522 00:32:00,048 --> 00:32:03,028 ..as a culture within its own right. 523 00:32:03,028 --> 00:32:08,040 It's tricky, Piers, because it's difficult to reduce Portugal down to one 524 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:09,092 defining thing. 525 00:32:09,092 --> 00:32:13,096 And, for us, in a way, it's what Portugal isn't that makes it nice. 526 00:32:13,096 --> 00:32:17,012 What do you mean?It's not Spain. It's not Spain. And it's not France. 527 00:32:17,012 --> 00:32:20,036 I've never been a Francophile. What's the best thing about Portugal? 528 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,012 The climate.Yeah. 529 00:32:26,012 --> 00:32:27,016 The people. 530 00:32:28,024 --> 00:32:30,052 Low key. It's not brash. 531 00:32:30,052 --> 00:32:32,024 It's very at ease with itself, isn't it? 532 00:32:32,024 --> 00:32:35,024 It's at ease with itself, yeah. 533 00:32:35,024 --> 00:32:39,084 Neil and Shirley clearly enjoy all the simple pleasures that Portugal 534 00:32:39,084 --> 00:32:41,048 has to offer. 535 00:32:42,084 --> 00:32:46,052 And I really appreciate how they've worked with the architects to make a 536 00:32:46,052 --> 00:32:50,056 house that isn't ostentatious and responds to this ancient landscape. 537 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:55,064 Time to leave the olive groves inland and head for the coast. 538 00:32:59,068 --> 00:33:03,092 Portugal has 850km of rugged, Atlantic coastline, 539 00:33:03,092 --> 00:33:07,096 so the architects here find themselves facing the dual challenges of 540 00:33:07,096 --> 00:33:10,068 tricky terrain and extreme weather. 541 00:33:12,048 --> 00:33:17,024 We're visiting a house that has dealt with these challenges in an original way. 542 00:33:19,020 --> 00:33:20,084 It's a tiny country, Portugal. 543 00:33:20,084 --> 00:33:24,012 But, in a way, you feel this could go on for ever, 544 00:33:24,012 --> 00:33:26,060 like being in the Australian outback or something. 545 00:33:26,060 --> 00:33:31,044 And here, the soil seems to be so sandy and dry. 546 00:33:31,044 --> 00:33:34,032 I think this piece of land here gets very windy. 547 00:33:34,032 --> 00:33:37,048 I mean, it's very exposed to the Atlantic, this isn't Mediterranean country. 548 00:33:37,048 --> 00:33:39,000 This is Atlantic country. 549 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,072 Is it hard to build houses in this sort of landscape? 550 00:33:41,072 --> 00:33:43,092 If you sort your foundations out, you're fine. 551 00:33:43,092 --> 00:33:46,028 A lot of your money will be in the ground here. 552 00:33:46,028 --> 00:33:48,072 Making sure it doesn't just gradually sink into... 553 00:33:48,072 --> 00:33:50,076 ..into the sand.I like that in a house, don't you, 554 00:33:50,076 --> 00:33:52,024 that it doesn't gradually sink? 555 00:33:52,024 --> 00:33:55,064 I think that's important in a build. 556 00:33:55,064 --> 00:33:58,028 It's here. Unprepossessing gate, quite like that. 557 00:33:59,032 --> 00:34:03,020 Scrubland, isn't it? They've built in pine scrub. 558 00:34:03,020 --> 00:34:06,040 It's quite nice, though. 559 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,028 Oh, I can see it. I can see it. 560 00:34:09,028 --> 00:34:12,044 This house has been built on a huge 61-acre site for a 561 00:34:12,044 --> 00:34:14,088 free-spirited financier and his family. 562 00:34:18,032 --> 00:34:21,012 I'm interested that it doesn't give much away, does it? 563 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,032 Really is nestled, isn't it, into the dunes. 564 00:34:29,064 --> 00:34:34,000 Casa Monte, or Dune House, as it's affectionately known, 565 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:39,016 has two artificial sand dunes that buttress the sides of the building 566 00:34:39,016 --> 00:34:40,052 and lead up onto the roof. 567 00:34:43,076 --> 00:34:47,008 You do know what I'm going to have to do now, don't you? 568 00:34:47,008 --> 00:34:50,036 I dread to think.It's making me feel I have to walk on the roof. 569 00:34:51,036 --> 00:34:54,012 Steady.Steady on, girl. 570 00:34:54,012 --> 00:34:58,044 I like the fact that the path becomes the house. 571 00:34:58,044 --> 00:35:01,028 I like the ability to be able to... 572 00:35:01,028 --> 00:35:04,048 ..survey the surrounding area very quickly. 573 00:35:04,048 --> 00:35:07,044 But it's also where we can understand what the house is and, actually, 574 00:35:07,044 --> 00:35:08,092 the house is in a way quite simple. 575 00:35:08,092 --> 00:35:14,004 It's an X, it's a cross, and there are two little internal courtyards. 576 00:35:14,004 --> 00:35:15,084 It's lovely, isn't it? I mean, 577 00:35:15,084 --> 00:35:19,072 you get a real sense of place because we are quite high now. 578 00:35:19,072 --> 00:35:21,064 You can see into the forest. 579 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,024 When viewed from above, 580 00:35:24,024 --> 00:35:27,064 the unusual shape of this building becomes apparent. 581 00:35:32,068 --> 00:35:35,024 The illusion is of a modest house, 582 00:35:35,024 --> 00:35:40,004 half hidden beneath man-made sand dunes that conceal its true size. 583 00:35:47,048 --> 00:35:51,080 It's a fascinating building, a stylish, secret den, 584 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,028 nestling within a pine forest. 585 00:35:54,028 --> 00:35:57,024 This is the front.I've always liked what I call, 586 00:35:57,024 --> 00:36:01,068 in an old-fashioned sort of 1930s way, a storm porch. 587 00:36:01,068 --> 00:36:05,064 But, also, I love this really raw, crude concrete. 588 00:36:05,064 --> 00:36:07,076 I mean, this is what they do around here. 589 00:36:07,076 --> 00:36:11,000 In England, curiously, we use it for really important public buildings. 590 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,044 Here, this is the stuff you can make cottages out of. 591 00:36:13,044 --> 00:36:17,008 It's crude, it's raw, it's cheap. 592 00:36:17,008 --> 00:36:18,068 Just like me.Just like you. 593 00:36:18,068 --> 00:36:22,004 THEY CHUCKLE I saw that coming! 594 00:36:27,076 --> 00:36:29,056 And we are outside again. 595 00:36:29,056 --> 00:36:31,060 We are, we are not underground at all. 596 00:36:35,036 --> 00:36:39,008 I thought it would be dark, I thought we were coming into an underground bunker, 597 00:36:39,008 --> 00:36:43,088 but it's beautifully light, and you can have a view 598 00:36:43,088 --> 00:36:46,008 wherever you look. 599 00:36:46,008 --> 00:36:48,036 This is the lightest bit of the house, in the middle, 600 00:36:48,036 --> 00:36:51,020 and I get now why the legs are pulled apart, 601 00:36:51,020 --> 00:36:54,020 because you can see right out into landscape. 602 00:36:56,016 --> 00:36:59,092 In plan, Dune House is a large, crooked cross shape, 603 00:36:59,092 --> 00:37:03,020 buried beneath man-made sand dunes. 604 00:37:03,020 --> 00:37:07,004 The first leg contains garaging and a guest apartment. 605 00:37:07,004 --> 00:37:11,040 Two more truncated legs provide four family bedrooms and bathrooms, 606 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,088 each leading onto protected terraces. 607 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:18,056 An open-plan living and dining room that look into the garden and pool 608 00:37:18,056 --> 00:37:21,008 are in the fourth leg, with the kitchen alongside. 609 00:37:22,012 --> 00:37:25,056 It's an ingenious shape, which creates several intimate areas, 610 00:37:25,056 --> 00:37:29,080 each one with a different relationship to the landscape beyond. 611 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,008 A big living space. This is the other leg. 612 00:37:32,008 --> 00:37:33,060 It's a big space. 613 00:37:33,060 --> 00:37:35,020 And this curved wall is unusual, 614 00:37:35,020 --> 00:37:38,056 and I guess that's because this leg has then been pulled away from the 615 00:37:38,056 --> 00:37:42,080 other limb to give you a big courtyard inside, and of course this roof, 616 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,032 this ceiling, slopes right the way down to about five foot. 617 00:37:46,032 --> 00:37:48,096 I like the fact that you can use it in different ways, 618 00:37:48,096 --> 00:37:52,036 because when it's cold and windy, you'd close off these windows, 619 00:37:52,036 --> 00:37:55,052 you'd sort of go to the other end, the sort of lower ceiling end, 620 00:37:55,052 --> 00:37:58,036 the more cottage-like end of the room, light a fire. 621 00:37:58,036 --> 00:37:59,092 Person-sized space down there. 622 00:37:59,092 --> 00:38:03,048 Exactly, short person size space down there. 623 00:38:03,048 --> 00:38:06,028 And yet obviously when it's warm, open it up, 624 00:38:06,028 --> 00:38:08,044 and you're just at the poolside all day. 625 00:38:08,044 --> 00:38:12,044 But also in winter what's great is the sun will flood in, flood in, 626 00:38:12,044 --> 00:38:15,060 hit this floor, that floor will absorb all that heat, 627 00:38:15,060 --> 00:38:19,012 re-radiate it at night, so you can bask down the end there, 628 00:38:19,012 --> 00:38:22,040 in the knowledge that you've gained all that heat for free, actually. 629 00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:23,060 Free heat, I like that. 630 00:38:25,064 --> 00:38:31,016 The architect has created a house that can cope with an extremely variable climate. 631 00:38:33,020 --> 00:38:35,088 He's used shutters to reduce summer glare, 632 00:38:35,088 --> 00:38:39,084 and orientated most of the windows south to increase solar gain in winter. 633 00:38:40,088 --> 00:38:43,080 And he's topped it off with a cruciform roof. 634 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,004 X marks the spot. 635 00:38:46,008 --> 00:38:49,020 What I hadn't appreciated when I was on the roof is that this whole roof 636 00:38:49,020 --> 00:38:55,008 surface is a hyperbolic paraboloid, it's a flat plane that is twisted, 637 00:38:55,008 --> 00:38:58,096 so it's a double curvature, it's always curving in two dimensions. 638 00:38:58,096 --> 00:39:01,016 And of course you can do that with concrete. 639 00:39:02,060 --> 00:39:05,084 Not only is this house a hyperbolic paraboloid, 640 00:39:05,084 --> 00:39:07,036 ahem, 641 00:39:07,036 --> 00:39:09,072 but there's also loads of shiny concrete. 642 00:39:18,020 --> 00:39:21,044 They've made everything out of it, they've made the bed, the bedside table. 643 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,068 It's very clever, that one material that binds this house together. 644 00:39:30,016 --> 00:39:32,016 It's everywhere, even in here, 645 00:39:32,016 --> 00:39:34,040 and I like it very much for use in a bathroom. 646 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:38,024 It's so easy to keep clean, stiff brush, damp cloth, job done. 647 00:39:43,088 --> 00:39:48,084 And beyond the house, acres of ancient pine forest. 648 00:39:49,088 --> 00:39:53,088 There are lots of things to enjoy about this house but the thing I love 649 00:39:53,088 --> 00:39:56,036 best is its proximity to these pine trees. 650 00:39:56,036 --> 00:39:59,032 Not only do they look beautiful, but, 651 00:39:59,032 --> 00:40:01,076 oh, they smell wonderful, too. 652 00:40:03,052 --> 00:40:05,044 Please, Caroline, put the tree down. 653 00:40:07,092 --> 00:40:11,028 This house, organisationally, is pretty simple. 654 00:40:11,028 --> 00:40:14,048 I mean, there's a building that to all intents and purposes could have 655 00:40:14,048 --> 00:40:17,072 been organised as a rectangle, and there's a side that you drive up to, 656 00:40:17,072 --> 00:40:19,024 and you arrive in the front door, 657 00:40:19,024 --> 00:40:22,012 and then there's a side that faces south. 658 00:40:22,012 --> 00:40:27,004 The key trick of this building is that the house has been pulled apart, 659 00:40:27,004 --> 00:40:33,000 been massaged into an almost starfish-like shape. 660 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:39,032 But what you gain in doing that is a building that has landscape sitting 661 00:40:39,032 --> 00:40:45,084 around it, and that landscape can thread right the way into the heart 662 00:40:45,084 --> 00:40:47,012 of this house. 663 00:40:47,012 --> 00:40:51,032 Critically, then, the whole house is only ever, 664 00:40:51,032 --> 00:40:57,080 wherever it is, only one room deep, so every single room, wherever it is, 665 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:01,064 wherever it is in the building, has a view both ways. 666 00:41:01,064 --> 00:41:03,064 And that is really special. 667 00:41:05,072 --> 00:41:10,060 This unusual, light-filled home is definitely a one-off, 668 00:41:10,060 --> 00:41:15,044 and owner Andre is going to give me the lowdown on its creation. 669 00:41:15,044 --> 00:41:20,080 The thing I'm most interested in finding out is about how you first saw this land. 670 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:23,048 Do you know this land from before? 671 00:41:23,048 --> 00:41:26,076 Well, we knew the region from before. 672 00:41:26,076 --> 00:41:28,036 I love going to the beach, 673 00:41:28,036 --> 00:41:33,040 and so we used to come a lot to this beach here nearby. 674 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:36,012 I mean, it feels to me like you've sort of said, 675 00:41:36,012 --> 00:41:38,028 make somewhere easy to live. 676 00:41:38,028 --> 00:41:42,080 We did say that and mostly, we wanted to be very, very simple. 677 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:46,008 You know, the materials are very basic, we don't have a lot of furniture, 678 00:41:46,008 --> 00:41:49,076 we don't have paintings, because we really wanted very, very, very, very simple. 679 00:41:49,076 --> 00:41:52,008 But the actual design, when he first showed you, 680 00:41:52,008 --> 00:41:56,080 when Luis showed you the design, a bird's eye view of the house, 681 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:57,092 that's not simple. 682 00:41:57,092 --> 00:41:59,028 How did you cope with that? 683 00:41:59,028 --> 00:42:00,072 It was very unusual. 684 00:42:00,072 --> 00:42:03,064 Yeah!I remember the first impression I got, 685 00:42:03,064 --> 00:42:07,028 it looked like some letter from some unknown alphabet. 686 00:42:07,028 --> 00:42:09,024 Yeah, yeah, no, it is like that, yeah. 687 00:42:09,024 --> 00:42:11,020 But it made a lot of sense, to be honest, 688 00:42:11,020 --> 00:42:15,024 and it was not very difficult to buy into the idea. 689 00:42:15,024 --> 00:42:20,000 The idea came from Lisbon-based architect Luis Pereira Miguel. 690 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:24,020 He's passionate about building houses that respond to the natural environment. 691 00:42:24,020 --> 00:42:26,040 As you start designing the house, 692 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,084 it was clear that we would have to do something that had to 693 00:42:29,084 --> 00:42:33,032 take advantage of the sand, so, as you can see, 694 00:42:33,032 --> 00:42:36,008 this is completely made out of sand. 695 00:42:36,008 --> 00:42:39,032 It was very important to build the dunes to get this connection. 696 00:42:39,032 --> 00:42:42,020 Of course, every element in architecture has a price, 697 00:42:42,020 --> 00:42:46,024 so explaining to a client that he has to spend money on sand is quite 698 00:42:46,024 --> 00:42:48,056 difficult, but he 699 00:42:48,056 --> 00:42:50,052 agreed, and in the end I'm very happy with it. 700 00:42:50,052 --> 00:42:53,000 This is a house that really is a piece of landscape, isn't it? 701 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:54,032 It's embedded in the ground. 702 00:42:54,032 --> 00:42:58,092 It is completely, I think it's much influenced in land art, 703 00:42:58,092 --> 00:43:01,004 more than architecture. 704 00:43:03,024 --> 00:43:09,048 Luis used 120 tonnes of sand relocated from the site to create the dunes. 705 00:43:09,048 --> 00:43:14,024 As sand is difficult to build on, the ground works alone took two months. 706 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,008 Perhaps the trickiest part was the roof, 707 00:43:18,008 --> 00:43:21,096 as its complex geometry had to be set out in timber formwork, 708 00:43:21,096 --> 00:43:24,012 before it could be cast in concrete. 709 00:43:25,048 --> 00:43:28,008 And the internal courtyards, what are they about? 710 00:43:28,008 --> 00:43:29,076 They are for cross ventilation, 711 00:43:29,076 --> 00:43:34,044 but also for getting nice spaces outside of the house, 712 00:43:34,044 --> 00:43:37,096 spaces where you can think, or you can meditate, 713 00:43:37,096 --> 00:43:40,008 have your breakfast or read your book. 714 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:45,016 So now, a few years on, how do you feel coming back now, 715 00:43:45,016 --> 00:43:47,032 and seeing this in this landscape? 716 00:43:47,032 --> 00:43:48,088 I find the house still beautiful, 717 00:43:50,048 --> 00:43:51,088 which is good, I think. 718 00:43:51,088 --> 00:43:55,092 And another thing about this house is that you cannot really say that 719 00:43:55,092 --> 00:43:58,044 this is a house from the '80s or from the '90s, 720 00:43:58,044 --> 00:44:03,072 and I'm very happy to be here after those years to see that the house 721 00:44:03,072 --> 00:44:05,072 still is impeccable. 722 00:44:07,012 --> 00:44:10,024 It is a house built on a piece of land meant for building, 723 00:44:10,024 --> 00:44:14,076 but it still feels very like nature is boss here. 724 00:44:14,076 --> 00:44:19,076 Yes.What do you love most about spending time here? 725 00:44:19,076 --> 00:44:23,000 I love everything, you know, I love that this is a house that we enjoy 726 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,056 with friends. We enjoy the summer life here, 727 00:44:25,056 --> 00:44:29,084 and it's a house where my children were born, and grew, 728 00:44:29,084 --> 00:44:34,052 so it's got a lot of very emotional memories. 729 00:44:34,052 --> 00:44:38,072 You know, we like being completely with no neighbours in sight. 730 00:44:38,072 --> 00:44:44,000 That privacy is wonderful, and, yes, we love this landscape. 731 00:44:48,028 --> 00:44:52,044 The house is a very discreet intervention in an unspoiled forest. 732 00:44:54,052 --> 00:44:58,036 Andre, the owner, was saying to me that he loves this place, 733 00:44:58,036 --> 00:45:02,064 because it's all about living a kind of wild and free life. 734 00:45:02,064 --> 00:45:07,080 I think that's right, and it's rare to be in a house that's only ever four metres wide, wherever it is. 735 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,076 You're constantly, wherever you are in the house, pushed, 736 00:45:10,076 --> 00:45:14,032 pushed right up against nature, and that's pretty good. 737 00:45:14,032 --> 00:45:16,000 It's fantastic, and in this place, 738 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:21,040 that actually means being pushed right out into the most wonderful pine forest. 739 00:45:25,008 --> 00:45:29,004 Our final destination is in Portugal's far north, 740 00:45:29,004 --> 00:45:31,064 a place famous for its natural beauty. 741 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,036 It's a popular region for hikers and holiday-makers. 742 00:45:40,052 --> 00:45:43,004 Due to the altitude in this region of Portugal, 743 00:45:43,004 --> 00:45:46,028 the architects were asked to produce a property that would cope with cold 744 00:45:46,028 --> 00:45:50,080 weather, and also take advantage of the beautiful woodland landscape. 745 00:45:52,016 --> 00:45:53,096 I don't think we can be far away now. 746 00:45:53,096 --> 00:45:56,084 Steep valley side, facing 747 00:45:56,084 --> 00:45:58,016 north, I think. 748 00:45:58,016 --> 00:46:01,008 Is that it? Can you see it? I can see something... 749 00:46:04,088 --> 00:46:06,048 Right. Here we are.Excellent. 750 00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:13,064 Casa Geres is hidden, built on a hillside. 751 00:46:13,064 --> 00:46:18,012 The road leads to the rear, and in order to fully appreciate the house, 752 00:46:18,012 --> 00:46:21,088 we need to walk all the way around it before we go in. 753 00:46:21,088 --> 00:46:26,020 I really like the idea of not revealing anything at all as you arrive. 754 00:46:26,020 --> 00:46:29,048 It's a good way to meet a house, isn't it, Piers? 755 00:46:29,048 --> 00:46:33,012 I think we should just see what we can discover. 756 00:46:33,012 --> 00:46:37,028 A natural stream running down a valley has been diverted and transformed 757 00:46:37,028 --> 00:46:39,072 into a series of pools. 758 00:46:39,072 --> 00:46:41,040 Look at this waterfall. 759 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:42,080 Oh!Are you all right there? 760 00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:45,028 No, I nearly was in the drink, then. 761 00:46:45,028 --> 00:46:48,016 You know, the Victorians would have gone mad for this, it's a fernery, basically. 762 00:46:48,016 --> 00:46:49,084 We're going mad for it, you're going mad for it. 763 00:46:49,084 --> 00:46:52,008 I am! I really think it's extraordinarily beautiful, 764 00:46:52,008 --> 00:46:58,012 and I love the way it's sort of just another part of your journey around 765 00:46:58,012 --> 00:47:00,012 this house, and we've only just started. 766 00:47:06,024 --> 00:47:10,076 The house is like a large cabin, perched on the mountainside. 767 00:47:10,076 --> 00:47:12,068 The platform is made from concrete, 768 00:47:14,036 --> 00:47:18,044 with a building above a much more lightweight combination of steel, 769 00:47:18,044 --> 00:47:22,016 timber and glass, with framed views out into the woodland. 770 00:47:26,088 --> 00:47:31,032 Our first real glimpse of the house and the scale of it is phenomenal. 771 00:47:31,032 --> 00:47:34,056 It's really lovely the way the concrete embeds the house in the ground, 772 00:47:34,056 --> 00:47:38,024 and then there's this very lightweight timber wrapping over the top. 773 00:47:38,024 --> 00:47:41,060 It's a lovely way these two bits of building have come together. 774 00:47:41,060 --> 00:47:44,060 It's really monolithic and I have to confess I have a 775 00:47:44,060 --> 00:47:47,072 love of buildings that don't have small, domestic openings, 776 00:47:47,072 --> 00:47:50,032 but have big planes of material. 777 00:47:50,032 --> 00:47:54,036 Already, we've been here a few minutes, and there's so much going on. 778 00:47:54,036 --> 00:47:57,012 It's terribly powerful.It is. 779 00:48:00,084 --> 00:48:04,092 I mean, what a great entrance shaft, and there's no other word for it. 780 00:48:04,092 --> 00:48:07,060 There's something really wonderful about the simplicity of it, 781 00:48:07,060 --> 00:48:13,036 because you know by now there's going to be a real treat when you reach the bottom. 782 00:48:17,016 --> 00:48:20,012 After you, my lord. Thank you. 783 00:48:21,020 --> 00:48:25,060 The long, concrete steps are very theatrical, concealing the view 784 00:48:25,060 --> 00:48:28,000 until it's revealed to you from inside. 785 00:48:29,060 --> 00:48:32,060 The house is anchored into both the hillside behind it, 786 00:48:32,060 --> 00:48:34,028 and the bedrock below. 787 00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,096 At one end is a five-metre high bedroom area, 788 00:48:39,096 --> 00:48:44,028 separated from the main house by a small courtyard, and, inside, 789 00:48:44,028 --> 00:48:47,028 the bedrooms and bathrooms are accessed from a mezzanine, 790 00:48:47,028 --> 00:48:52,056 which overlooks the double-height living space below. 791 00:48:52,056 --> 00:48:55,040 Oh, what a great room. I mean, this is a huge space. 792 00:48:56,056 --> 00:49:00,036 It's much bigger... I mean, I knew it was going to be quite a big room, but this is enormous, isn't it? 793 00:49:00,036 --> 00:49:02,040 It reminds me of a saying my old tutor used to use, 794 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:06,012 which was every house should have a room where a child can get up to speed. 795 00:49:06,012 --> 00:49:09,016 What about an adult getting up to speed? I don't know, shall we give it a go? 796 00:49:09,016 --> 00:49:11,052 Yeah, go on.All right, you have to go, too. 797 00:49:11,052 --> 00:49:13,004 I'll start here. All right. 798 00:49:13,004 --> 00:49:14,060 One, two, three, go! 799 00:49:14,060 --> 00:49:16,080 First one to touch the end! No! 800 00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:21,008 You have to do a tag, now! 801 00:49:24,044 --> 00:49:28,076 This space is designed to work as both an intimate family room and a place 802 00:49:28,076 --> 00:49:31,080 to entertain larger gatherings. 803 00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:34,000 I do like the idea of having a room that you can do anything with, 804 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,032 so you could clear all this out and you could play tennis. 805 00:49:36,032 --> 00:49:40,032 You really... It's not a classical building with a formal set of rooms and 806 00:49:40,032 --> 00:49:43,056 antechambers, this is a big, flexible warehouse. 807 00:49:43,056 --> 00:49:46,096 I like the idea of being able to move where your sitting room is. 808 00:49:46,096 --> 00:49:48,052 Nothing is tethered. 809 00:49:48,052 --> 00:49:50,072 It's all absolutely free. 810 00:49:51,072 --> 00:49:55,084 What transforms this contemporary warehouse structure from cavernous 811 00:49:55,084 --> 00:50:01,008 to cosy is a subtle colour palette of vintage furniture and a generous use of 812 00:50:01,008 --> 00:50:03,036 sensuous textiles. 813 00:50:03,036 --> 00:50:05,068 I'm going to take the weight 814 00:50:05,068 --> 00:50:07,000 off my slingbacks. 815 00:50:11,096 --> 00:50:13,076 It's very calm in here, Piers. 816 00:50:15,024 --> 00:50:16,052 It's church-like. 817 00:50:18,096 --> 00:50:22,016 The colour of the leaves outside, 818 00:50:22,016 --> 00:50:25,032 the valley with the sun on it, sheepskin and... 819 00:50:27,088 --> 00:50:29,060 I'm quite weary. 820 00:50:34,056 --> 00:50:36,068 I might just have a little relax, sweetie. 821 00:50:39,072 --> 00:50:42,076 Caroline's right, this does have a church-like quality, because, 822 00:50:42,076 --> 00:50:46,068 of course, this is the main hall and the back of the vestry space is the 823 00:50:46,068 --> 00:50:51,012 smaller spaces, subservience to the main event, which, in this case, 824 00:50:51,012 --> 00:50:53,036 is a very rudimentary kitchen. 825 00:50:53,036 --> 00:50:56,048 It's almost like the scullery that a manor house would have had, 826 00:50:56,048 --> 00:50:59,060 but made in the 21st century, fashioned out of very, 827 00:50:59,060 --> 00:51:02,036 very straightforward bits and pieces, 828 00:51:02,036 --> 00:51:06,076 lit by a single shaft of light from above hitting all of this masonry. 829 00:51:07,076 --> 00:51:12,032 And in here, the depth of this wall, it's four foot thick, 830 00:51:12,032 --> 00:51:18,052 this wall, and it's taking me upstairs through what looks like an ancient stone staircase. 831 00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,012 Upstairs is very different from a church. 832 00:51:29,012 --> 00:51:32,096 This is industrial steel, this is bridge technology. 833 00:51:32,096 --> 00:51:37,040 The whole of the top of this house is really one big truss that lifts up 834 00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:40,032 that timber box above the concrete. 835 00:51:42,028 --> 00:51:45,068 And what we have up here has a very different character from the room below. 836 00:51:45,068 --> 00:51:48,052 The room below is big, grand and formal. 837 00:51:48,052 --> 00:51:50,044 The room up here is much smaller. 838 00:51:52,020 --> 00:51:53,068 And look, 839 00:51:53,068 --> 00:51:57,028 there's Caroline Quentin fast asleep and this is a really good place where 840 00:51:57,028 --> 00:52:02,044 you could bring out your 11-year-old boy and lob things at people below. 841 00:52:05,072 --> 00:52:06,088 Go away. 842 00:52:06,088 --> 00:52:08,084 I'm giving you all my sweets. 843 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:11,032 Not bad. 844 00:52:17,008 --> 00:52:20,004 The bedroom has a cabin-like quality. 845 00:52:20,004 --> 00:52:23,012 This could be on a boat somewhere. 846 00:52:23,012 --> 00:52:25,048 It's lined in timber from top to bottom. 847 00:52:25,048 --> 00:52:27,048 Acoustically, it's very different. 848 00:52:27,048 --> 00:52:29,012 It's really warm. 849 00:52:30,028 --> 00:52:33,012 And these shutters are really rudimentary. 850 00:52:34,012 --> 00:52:36,068 They're simple, big pieces of timber. 851 00:52:36,068 --> 00:52:40,088 The top is held open just by a timber prop, 852 00:52:40,088 --> 00:52:42,088 the bottom one is hung by a chain. 853 00:52:42,088 --> 00:52:44,060 Again, this structure here, 854 00:52:44,060 --> 00:52:48,048 this is just all the exposed bolt heads and this is really simple, 855 00:52:48,048 --> 00:52:52,076 pretty unrefined steel, there's nothing fancy about it. 856 00:52:54,064 --> 00:52:57,016 But the windows here are sophisticated. 857 00:52:57,016 --> 00:53:02,060 Unsurprising, as the owner has a company that specialises in 858 00:53:02,060 --> 00:53:06,000 manufacturing hi-tech frames and glass. 859 00:53:07,048 --> 00:53:11,008 Jose, Caroline. Lovely to meet you. 860 00:53:11,008 --> 00:53:15,036 Thank you so much for inviting us into this absolutely wonderful house. 861 00:53:15,036 --> 00:53:19,048 What's it like living in this house with the family? 862 00:54:00,020 --> 00:54:04,064 There is something very particular about the way the house is made and the way the 863 00:54:04,064 --> 00:54:12,012 elements come together because the ground is sloping hillside and on that 864 00:54:12,012 --> 00:54:15,008 sits this inverted L, 865 00:54:15,008 --> 00:54:19,096 which is made of concrete and it's the material that grounds the house 866 00:54:19,096 --> 00:54:23,044 to this hillside, and it cantilevers over the pool at the end and then 867 00:54:23,044 --> 00:54:26,040 there's that tree with these fantastic autumn leaves. 868 00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:31,004 And much like a tree that has a canopy held up on a trunk, 869 00:54:31,004 --> 00:54:36,076 the house above that piece of ground is an almost treelike structure 870 00:54:36,076 --> 00:54:42,032 because these little posts hold up a box truss 871 00:54:42,032 --> 00:54:44,052 that sits above this 872 00:54:44,052 --> 00:54:49,088 and the entire first floor then sits within that truss zone. 873 00:54:49,088 --> 00:54:55,012 So what you have is a real sense of a landscape that kind of comes 874 00:54:55,012 --> 00:54:59,068 through, wraps right the way around the house, 875 00:54:59,068 --> 00:55:03,020 sort of framing the house when you see it in landscape. 876 00:55:06,064 --> 00:55:09,000 And with those windows, what a frame. 877 00:55:12,076 --> 00:55:17,016 Coming out into this courtyard space through this glass partition is 878 00:55:17,016 --> 00:55:20,000 really fabulous because this is what Jose does for a living - 879 00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,044 he works with architects using glass, which is his speciality. 880 00:55:24,044 --> 00:55:28,032 Not only does that door slide open, really elegantly and beautiful, 881 00:55:28,032 --> 00:55:33,024 but this one does, too, so opening up this whole riad space. 882 00:55:33,024 --> 00:55:38,084 A courtyard area that you can use in the summer when it's hot and it keeps 883 00:55:38,084 --> 00:55:43,016 you in the shade, or even in the autumn, like now, 884 00:55:43,016 --> 00:55:45,032 you can use these spaces, 885 00:55:45,032 --> 00:55:49,040 which are quite sheltered when the wind is blowing hard up the valley, 886 00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:55,032 and it brings you in from the outside into this wonderful master bedroom. 887 00:55:55,032 --> 00:55:58,016 And unlike the rooms in the other side of the house, 888 00:55:58,016 --> 00:55:59,032 the other guest bedrooms, 889 00:55:59,032 --> 00:56:01,088 which are upstairs and small and cosy and wooden, 890 00:56:01,088 --> 00:56:04,060 this one has much more elegant proportions. 891 00:56:05,064 --> 00:56:07,040 With a 5m ceiling, 892 00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:10,076 a giraffe could get a good night's kip in here without getting a crick 893 00:56:10,076 --> 00:56:12,036 in its neck. 894 00:56:12,036 --> 00:56:17,060 So you're still connected, so you can still see through the building and all the glass and the wood 895 00:56:17,060 --> 00:56:21,016 in there, but if you want to be away from your guests or your children or 896 00:56:21,016 --> 00:56:24,096 something, it enables you to get away and have a little bit of privacy in 897 00:56:24,096 --> 00:56:27,012 a really beautiful space. 898 00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:35,016 This house is intimate and impressive, stylish and fun, 899 00:56:35,016 --> 00:56:39,092 combining stunning architecture and great taste. 900 00:56:39,092 --> 00:56:42,012 Quite nippy now, isn't it? Yeah. 901 00:56:42,012 --> 00:56:43,072 I'm quite glad we can light the fire. 902 00:56:46,072 --> 00:56:48,084 I do love the house. 903 00:56:48,084 --> 00:56:50,092 It's a really elemental building in many ways, 904 00:56:50,092 --> 00:56:52,080 in terms of how it connects us with nature, 905 00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:57,060 all the materials and the noise and the textures of everything. 906 00:56:57,060 --> 00:57:01,080 And the house itself, the wood and the concrete, 907 00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:03,052 they really complement each other. 908 00:57:05,020 --> 00:57:06,096 Just like us.Yeah. 909 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:10,056 Just like us. 910 00:57:10,056 --> 00:57:14,016 For me, each Portuguese house we've seen has been really ambitious from 911 00:57:14,016 --> 00:57:16,004 an architectural perspective. 912 00:57:16,004 --> 00:57:19,084 While at the same time being sympathetic to its context. 913 00:57:19,084 --> 00:57:25,016 Portugal has been astonishingly diverse in its culture, in its landscape, 914 00:57:25,016 --> 00:57:28,000 in its people and in its buildings. 915 00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:29,044 It is somehow, though, 916 00:57:29,044 --> 00:57:34,044 a nation that sort of keeps itself to itself pretty much and the houses 917 00:57:34,044 --> 00:57:35,060 have been like that, too, 918 00:57:35,060 --> 00:57:38,068 but once we've scratched around and tried to find out, 919 00:57:38,068 --> 00:57:41,060 I've really enjoyed the things that we've discovered. 920 00:57:41,060 --> 00:57:44,004 And inside, there is a treasure trove. 921 00:57:44,004 --> 00:57:47,076 They've been subtle, they've been inscrutable, they've been very beautiful. 922 00:57:47,076 --> 00:57:49,040 Rather like Portugal itself. 923 00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:51,000 You sound like you've had a good time. 924 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:52,068 I have, thank you. 925 00:57:52,068 --> 00:57:55,036 Obrigada.Obrigado! 926 00:57:55,036 --> 00:57:56,040 De nada. 927 00:57:58,012 --> 00:58:00,088 Nae bother.Nae bother! 928 00:58:02,004 --> 00:58:04,064 We're sort of Glaswegian Portuguese! 929 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:13,016 Next time, we're in Switzerland, visiting majestic mountain homes... 930 00:58:13,016 --> 00:58:15,072 I mean, it's like something out of a fairy tale. 931 00:58:15,072 --> 00:58:17,092 ..startling lakeside pads... 932 00:58:17,092 --> 00:58:21,084 Look at me!..and luxurious alpine villas, 933 00:58:21,084 --> 00:58:26,072 as once again we go in search of the world's most extraordinary homes. 934 00:58:26,072 --> 00:58:31,088 This is clearly what this entire house is about.