Last updated: June 2026
Portuguese architecture has always worked close to the land, and its best contemporary studios still build with the regional material under their feet. Granite and schist in the north, lime and timber through the centre, rammed earth and whitewash across the Alentejo and Algarve. A generation trained in the Lisbon and Porto schools now restores ruins, reuses old farm buildings, and reads new houses against the landscape rather than over it.
This guide lists twelve studios with significant rural and residential work across mainland Portugal, from internationally published names to small regional practices. Each works seriously with existing buildings, natural materials, or both.
Aires Mateus
Lisbon · airesmateus.com
Founded 1988 by brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus. Portugal's most internationally significant residential practice. Manuel trained under Gonçalo Byrne.
Approach: reduction to essential form, bare materials, a constant dialogue between built volume and landscape.
Featured project: Pa.te.os, Melides, Alentejo, 2022.
extrastudio
Lisbon · extrastudio.pt
Founded 2003 by João Ferrão and João Costa Ribeiro. Ferrão worked at OMA and Herzog & de Meuron before returning to Lisbon.
Known for radically simple conversions of existing rural buildings.
Featured project: Red House, Azeitão, Setúbal, 2017, a family winery rebuilt in red-pigmented mortar.
Pedro Ressano Garcia
Lisbon · ressanogarcia.com
Lisbon architect and academic with sustained research into Portuguese landscape and vernacular building. Repeated work in the Alcácer do Sal area.
Method: keep the layout and proportions of existing rural structures, reuse original materials, build in lime, timber and tile.
Featured project: Montinhos, Santa Catarina de Sítimos, Alentejo.
Pedro Domingos Arquitectos
Lisbon · pdarq.com
Own studio since 2002, after years with Carrilho da Graça and a partnership with Inês Lobo. Taught at the University of Évora. Won the first Arquitectura no Alentejo award in 2023.
Note: a cleaner, more sculptural register than the restoration-led studios here, but always set against landscape and local building.
Featured project: Frame House, Santa Bárbara de Nexe, Algarve, 2025.
blaanc
Lisbon · blaanc.com
Studio working between Portugal and abroad, with a clear commitment to earth construction.
One of the contemporary practices reviving taipa, the rammed earth that is the Alentejo's traditional wall.
Featured project: Vineyard House (Casa da Vinha), Montijo, with rammed earth left exposed inside.
Atelier Rua
Lisbon · atelierrua.com
Founded 2006 as a four-architect collective. A strong line of rural and hospitality work, much of it in the Algarve interior.
Method: renovate existing buildings by traditional means, keep their character, add only what the new use needs.
Featured project: Rural Hostel, near Tavira, Algarve, 2020, an old tavern and warehouse restored with cane ceilings.
Camarim Arquitectos
Lisbon · camarim.pt
Founded 2007 by Vasco Matias Correia and Patrícia Ferreira de Sousa. Known for buildings that emerge from the landscape and for work in cork.
Material commitment: build into the ground, using the earth's thermal mass for passive comfort.
Featured project: Casa na Gateira, Penela, central Portugal, 2016.
João Mendes Ribeiroc
Coimbra · joaomendesribeiro.com
Practice since 1990. A former assistant to Fernando Távora, he is one of Portugal's foremost heritage and reconversion architects, and widely known for stage design. RIBA and EU Mies recognition.
Featured project: Fonte Boa House, a house drawn from the traditional espigueiro grain barn.
Tiago do Vale Arquitectos
Braga · tiagodovale.com
Founded 2008. PhD in architectural heritage from the University of Porto. A small studio specialising in restoration and the vernacular building of the Minho.
Featured project: The Dovecote-Granary, northern Portugal, two traditional maize granaries on granite bases, rebuilt piece by piece with local artisan knowledge.
Carvalho Araújo
Braga · carvalhoaraujo.com
Founded 1996 by José Manuel Carvalho Araújo, with a second office in São Paulo. Formal restraint, timber and board-marked concrete, houses embedded in their slopes.
Featured project: Gerês House, Caniçada Valley, Peneda-Gerês National Park.
Menos é Mais
Porto · menosemais.com
Founded 1994 by Cristina Guedes and Francisco Vieira de Campos, both from the Porto School (Guedes with Siza, Vieira de Campos with Souto de Moura). Economy of means applied to wine country and rural hospitality in the Douro.
Featured project: Hotel Rural Casa do Rio, Castelo Melhor, Douro Valley, alongside the Quinta do Vallado winery and hotel.
Mário Martins Atelier
Lagos · mariomartins.com
Founded 2000 by Mário Martins. The Algarve's defining contemporary house architect, working in the region's white render, limestone and on-site schist.
Note: a cleaner contemporary register than the restoration studios here, but consistently rooted in regional material and light.
Featured project: Casa Morena, Lagos, Algarve, 2024.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the most internationally known Portuguese architect for rural houses?
Aires Mateus, the Lisbon studio of brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, founded in 1988. Manuel Aires Mateus designed the Pa.te.os houses in the Alentejo and several projects for the Silent Living collection, including Casas na Areia and Cabanas no Rio, that helped define the slow rural stay in Portugal.
Which Portuguese architects work with traditional materials like rammed earth and schist?
blaanc builds in taipa, the Alentejo's rammed-earth wall. Tiago do Vale and Carvalho Araújo work with the granite and timber of the north. Mário Martins uses Algarve white render, limestone and schist taken from the site. Camarim draws directly on the earth's thermal mass.
Where are most contemporary Portuguese architecture studios based?
Most trace back to the Lisbon and Porto schools. Several keep regional practices: Braga (Tiago do Vale, Carvalho Araújo), Coimbra (João Mendes Ribeiro), Porto (Menos é Mais) and Lagos in the Algarve (Mário Martins).
Which Portuguese architects work on rural restoration?
extrastudio, Pedro Ressano Garcia, João Mendes Ribeiro, Tiago do Vale and Atelier Rua all centre their work on reusing and rebuilding existing rural structures with traditional materials and methods.