Casa Meco Holiday House in Meco, Portugal by Atelier Rua

The key focus of Atelier Rua’s Casa Meco in Portugal is its oversized communal living spaces that cement its status as a pitch-perfect holiday home. Wrapped in beautifully nuanced exposed concrete with killer views to boot, the immense living room becomes the beating heartbeat of the property – the central point around which life revolves. Atelier Rua have designed a series of spaces that encourage connection while simultaneously allowing for a quiet retreat, and in turn – if you ask us – have created the most perfect vessel for architectural holiday escapism.

Casa Meco is shaped as a perfect square with four similar facades. The corners of the square hold four guest suites, each with an en suite bathroom, private dressing area and a secluded courtyard.

“Of course, there’s an inherent playfulness in this plan,” says Paulo Borralho, partner at Atelier Rua. “We used geometry as a ‘motor’ to design the whole house. The private patios, the ‘family clusters’, the living room; they are all squares inside squares”.

The resulting scheme covers all the bases, delivering independent ‘family clusters’ (Covid-19 pun unintended) and ample space for communal gathering. Borralho explains their client wished to avoid doors, and as much as possible, desired an open plan. Instead of physical divisions, angled concrete walls take on a dual role – acting as privacy screens for bedrooms while adding to the sculptural quality of the space.

Scars from concrete formwork become the project’s key feature. The raw quality of the exposed concrete mirrors the imperfect beauty of the natural world surrounding the home. The brutal and robust aesthetic generated by its monolithic presence is counterbalanced by oversized soft furnishings, and natural fibres found in rugs and other woven accents. The warmth of timber kitchen cabinetry invites the neighbouring forest inside, injecting life into the grey shell. Walls of operable glazing further blur the boundary between internal and exterior space, extending the floor plan directly into the natural landscape.

Architect’s playfully employed scale throughout the project, describing movement through the house as a process of discovering different levels of intimacy. “From the outside, one can wander through the semi-private terrace into the bedroom,” says Borralho. “Space contracts in the bedroom vestibule that mediates the transition to the large living room space. From here, the sequence inverts until one reaches the opposite corner of the house.”

Movement throughout the home can be likened to a trip through a museum. Soaring ceilings and monolithic structure create a series of photo-worthy scenes, almost too beautiful to disturb with the messiness of life – don’t worry, we did say almost! Atelier Rua has brought new life to the square geometry, proving a simple scheme can pack just as much of a punch as the extravagantly detailed one.