SEIA, PORTUGAL 2007 (with Carlos Crespo)

The place is an immense valley tucked between the Estrela and Caramulo mountains, scattered with the many hillsides where the Dão Vineyards lie spread out.
The program of the cellar is organized under the ground, opening to a yard around of 30 x 30 m. This enclosure draws out an outer space protected from the wind, creating shadows and allowing the retention of humidity.
Conceptually, it establishes a parallel with the Roman construction of wine cellars carved in the rock, like some to be found on certain parts of Douro. In operational terms, it works like an ample working yard, where some of the activities that follow the wine harvest unfold, as, during the rest of the year, do those deriving from the from the running of the wine cellar.
In this sense, between the functional and the symbolic, it recalls the sunlit patios of the hills of Alentejo, of the cloisters of Monasteries and Convents, perpetual references for this viticultural theme.