Frame House is a minimal home located in Faro, Portugal, designed by Pedro Domingos Arquitectos. In the arid Barrocal landscape of the Algarve, a concrete monolith emerges like an ancient ruin, its raw state echoing the harshness of its surroundings. Yet this is no archaeological find but a contemporary dwelling that plays masterfully with our perception of time and place. The house presents itself initially as a series of voids—a provocative absence that shields the intimate spaces within while simultaneously framing carefully selected views of the Mediterranean landscape.
This interplay between presence and absence forms the conceptual foundation of this remarkable structure. The main volume—a single, austere parallelepiped—is defined by a thick southern wall that acts as both shelter and canvas, protecting interior spaces while selecting and framing the most compelling vistas toward Faro and the sea beyond. This wall becomes a protagonist in the architectural narrative, not merely containing space but actively shaping experience.
The home’s spatial sequence unfolds with cinematic precision from east to west: bedroom, entrance patio, kitchen, living room, solarium, and finally, the swimming pool—a water room that mediates between built form and climate. This linear progression evokes historical precedents like the enfilade arrangements of Baroque palaces, yet thoroughly reimagined for contemporary life.
At the heart of this sequence sits the kitchen with its suspended “diamond” skylight—a technical tour de force that transforms this utilitarian space into the home’s spiritual center. Here, light becomes material, sculpted with the same precision as the concrete walls themselves. Throughout the home, additional patios and skylights continue this light-carving exercise, creating a rhythmic dialogue between solidity and weightlessness.
The materiality reinforces this conceptual rigor: raw concrete dominates with its temporal ambiguity (at once contemporary and ancient-seeming), while steel elements—windows, doors, cupboards—provide precise moments of technological contrast. The water spaces introduce another material voice through massive white marble, its cool presence offering sensory and visual relief from the textural roughness of the concrete.
