Watermill On The Crag By Bruno Lucas Dias
- Words
- Paula Lou Riebschläger
Architecture practice Bruno Lucas Dias designed the lodge ‘Watermill on the Crag’, built with recycled materials from an old watermill in Portugal’s Crags of Saint Simon. The architect’s goal was to construct an energy-efficient building from a modest budget.
“This local lodging project is born out of the respect of the existing language, and aims to requalify the constructions and their context, faithfully respecting, as much as possible, its past use“, states the architect.
The building contains a bedroom, an open living room, a dining area, a kitchen, a bathroom as well as an outdoor patio providing a view of the mountain and the creek. Because of its design, the refuge blends in with its environment. One reason for this is that primarily natural materials were used for the new construction.
The external walls were by contrast crafted from an old watermill and built of stone, all of which creates a place of calm. While the exterior design was mostly retained, the interior was largely redesigned: white walls and surfaces out of pinewood as a regional material bring coziness to the Crags of Saint Simon.
All images © Hugo Santos Silva
