Casa Colares in Sintra, Lisbon Property
12 October 2026
Architects: Sabrab Architecture
Location: Sintra, Colares, Lisbon Region, Portugal
Photos: Ivo Tavares
Set among stone pines in Colares, overlooking vineyards and the Sintra hills, the project transforms an existing house into a contemporary home open to its garden and landscape.
The existing L-shaped volume was kept and strengthened as the organising principle. Its two wings embrace a sheltered garden with lawn and pool. One wing, in white render, holds the bedrooms and opens through large glazed openings; the other, clad in vertical natural timber, contains the social spaces. A hipped ceramic-tile roof, rooted in local tradition, unites both.
Where the wings meet, a white cantilevered slab marks the entrance. A circular oculus lets a young oak grow through, the future heart of this threshold. Along the garden façade, a pergola of white fins filters the light and casts shifting shadows on the timber deck, extending the living room outdoors.
Inside, exposed timber boarding and rafters bring scale and warmth against white walls and oak floors. Black steel and glass partitions enclose the kitchen without interrupting the gable. Sliding doors open the living room fully onto the deck.
Existing pines were preserved, and the garden combines gravel paths and Mediterranean planting. The pool faces the Colares vineyards, bringing the landscape into daily life.
What was the core architectural vision behind transforming a 1970s L-shaped house, and what specific elements were key to its reimagination?
The starting point was respect for what was already there: the house and, above all, the pines. The original house had good bones, an L-shaped plan that naturally sheltered a garden and a traditional tiled roof, but what made the place special were the mature stone pines around it, with views through them to the Colares vineyards. Rather than erase anything, we wanted to reveal that potential and make the house belong to the way people live today, fully open to the outdoors.
A few elements were key. First, the pines themselves: every existing tree was kept, and they shape the experience of the house, framing views, casting shade on the deck and giving the garden its scale. Second, we clarified the L, giving each wing its own character: white render for the private wing, natural timber for the social one, united under the same ceramic roof. Third, we opened the roof inside to its full height, so the exposed timber structure brings scale, warmth and light. Fourth, we worked the threshold between house and garden: the cantilevered slab at the entrance, with the oculus and the young oak growing through it, and the pergola that filters the light along the deck.
The result is a house that sits quietly beneath the pines rather than imposing on them.
How did the design integrate Casa Colares with its unique natural surroundings, specifically the stone pines and the open vineyards?
The site gave us two very different landscapes, and the design responds to each of them.
The pines are the close, enveloping landscape. We kept every existing tree and let them set the rules: the house sits among the trunks, and the garden was designed around them rather than the other way round. Near the house, the ground is treated lightly, with gravel, timber decking and Mediterranean planting that need little water and leave the roots undisturbed. The pines give shade, filter the light and cast moving shadows on the white walls and the deck, so they become part of the architecture throughout the day.
The vineyards are the distant, open landscape. The L-shaped plan closes towards the street and opens towards the garden, and from there the view extends across the valley to the vines and the Sintra hills. The pool was placed at the edge of the garden, facing that view, so that it works almost as a foreground to the vineyards. Large sliding windows and the covered deck let this openness reach into the living spaces.
So the house moves between these two conditions: sheltered and intimate under the pines, open and expansive towards the vineyards. That balance is what gives Casa Colares its sense of place.
Can you elaborate on the selection of timber and white render, and how these materials contribute to the overall aesthetic and functionality of the house?
The two materials work as a pair, each with a clear job.
The timber is the protective skin. On the street side, the social wing presents an almost blind façade of vertical boards: it gives privacy and a sense of shelter, and at the same time it’s a surface that changes all day, catching the low sun and the shadows of the pines. Next to it, the white slab cuts out sharply, very thin and precise, so the contrast between the warm, textured wood and the abstract white line becomes the entrance of the house.
Inside, the timber moves to the ceiling. We opened the roof and left the boarding and rafters exposed, in the living room at full height and in the bedrooms following the slope. It gives the spaces warmth, scale and a softer acoustic, and it connects the interior directly with the pines you see through the windows.
The white render, and the white walls inside, are the calm background. They reflect light deep into the house and let everything else be read: the grain of the oak floor, the black steel partitions, the patterns of light that the pergola projects across the floor. In the corridors, storage is built flush into white walls, so the circulation stays clean and quiet, with only the art and a few objects standing out.
Timber for warmth and shelter, white for light and silence. Between them, the house finds its balance.
How does the reimagined design of Casa Colares enhance the living experience, particularly in its unique setting in Colares, Sintra?
The idea was to make everyday life happen in relation to the garden and the landscape, not only to look at them.
Every main room opens directly to the outside. The living room slides open entirely onto the covered deck, and even the bedrooms step straight out onto the timber deck, the lawn and the pool, with the pines framed in each window. You wake up and you’re already in the garden.
The house also responds to the Sintra climate, which can shift quickly between Atlantic mist and strong sun. The covered deck and the pergola create an in-between space that works most of the year: shade on hot afternoons, shelter on cooler days, and light that moves across the floor as the day passes. Inside, the timber ceilings and the fireplace keep the house warm and welcoming when the weather turns.
The plan supports different ways of living. The social wing is one generous, open space, but the kitchen can be separated by the black steel and glass partitions without losing light or views. The private wing is calmer and more enclosed, and the timber façade towards the street protects the family’s privacy while the house opens fully to the garden side.
In the end, it’s a house for slow living: under the pines, facing the vineyards, where the rhythm of the day is set by light, shade and the seasons.
Casa Colares in Lisbon, Portugal home – Property Information
Architecture: Sabrab Architecture – https://sabrab.com/, Miguel Barbas
- Project size: 350 sqm
- Site size: 2000 sqm
- Completion date: 2026
- Building levels: 1
Photography: Ivo Tavares
Casa Colares, Lisbon images / information received 121026 from Sabrab Architecture
Location: Sintra, Lisbon, Portugal, southwestern Europe.
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