An oasis of peace and quiet, the Vill'Alcina was built by Sergio in 1971–1974 near the mouth of the river Minho, on the slopes of a hill in front of mount Santa Tecla. This stunning area is located in Caminha, Portugal just beyond the Spanish border. The house sits in a sublime landscape between land and water (of the river, the sea), between extension and proximity. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For each of the two identical units that form the house, a small atrium introduces the dining-room, the kitchen, and below them the great living-room. At the centre stands the fireplace, whose chimney inhabits the space in an abstract manner, emerging through the substruction wall that divides the various spaces and anchors the architecture to the ground in an extraordinary evocation of far-away, foundational actions of human dwelling. Beyond the service block, a loggia distributes the bedrooms, which are not rooms but alcoves, located a level above the ground of the loggia and separated from it by a screen which turns into a door at the last one, as if wanting to reconquer an (impossible) intimacy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The unequivocal clarity of the composition goes hand in hand with a careful use of building materials, from which derives its natural expressiveness. On the outside, the stone of the load-bearing walls, set with ample cement joints, and the concrete pillars which help to support the brick and cement floor of the loggias (of the entrance and distribution of the night area) and of the great corner window of the living-room; on the inside the white plaster of the walls, the mosaic of the floor and the wood that covers the ceiling and of which the alcoves are also made. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Inspiration by Atlas of Places. #summerhouse #iconichouses #architecturephotography #architecturehunting #villalcina #sergiofernandez #portuguesearchitecture #mountainarchitecture #homedesign #interiordesign