Pa.te.os

Four concrete houses by architect Manuel Aires Mateus sit just inland from the Alentejo coast, their glass walls retracting fully so the bedroom and the courtyard become one room. The name is a pun on the Portuguese word for patios, which tells you everything about the philosophy. There's no lobby, no common spaces to perform leisure in, just an infinity pool and a breakfast tray if you want one. A place to stay built entirely around the premise that silence is the amenity.