A DREAM

GOOD ARCHITECT cannot exist without a good idea.” Those are the words of Mário Martins, the man behind Mário Martins Atelier, a team of architects with bases in Lisbon and Lagos, and it is from his office in the Algarve that Mário is talking to me today. Before we get started with our interview, he proudly proffers up his beautiful new book, the latest in his library of works where he is an author as well as an architect and designer.

Duo showcases the unlikely relationships between pairs of vastly different buildings. It’s definitely a book that both architecture and art lovers would want displayed on their coffee tables. It is clear from the outset that it is passion for his profession that drives Mário, and he is very clear that he values quality over quantity.

“You can’t do good architecture without having that real passion for it,” he says. And that is why you won’t find his buildings cropping up in abundance across the Algarve and Europe – Mário has to fall in love with a project in order to take it on, much like he fell in love with architecture more than 30 years ago when he studied at the University of Lisbon.

When starting a project, which can sometimes take many years to complete, hence the all-important quality over quantity ethos, Mário explains that a good architect will use their knowledge to work with the client to create what they want rather than what he would like to design and build himself. This is sometimes harder than it seems, especially for a man who never likes to tell a client “no” or “that is impossible.” And sometimes a client doesn’t even know what they want out of a build they have commissioned Mário and his team to manage.

This is where his expertise comes in and also why the first stage in the process is to fully engage and study the client, find out who they are and what they want. It doesn’t matter whether the commission is small or large in terms of size or budget; Mário’s passion and excitement are the same, and as he is keen to point out, architecture is essentially resolving an everyday problem, whether it is for a family needing more space in their home or a restaurant hoping to stand out from the crowd.

Teamwork

There can sometimes be as many as six people working on one of the Atelier projects, and when a difficult situation

Below: Casa Lioz, at the top of a hill, has an outstanding view of an estuary and the outline of the golden cliffs that border the bay of Lagos. The house is reached by an organic path of ramps and steps. The various spaces, full and empty volumes, settle into the different levels of the land, where the natural light coming from the patios focuses on the deliberately winding paths arises in the design process, they will work around it and come up with another solution. It is a matter of whatever the client wants as, at the end of the day, the project is about their vision, even if they have chosen Mário because they love his portfolio.

Sometimes the team will go through multiple versions of a design before a build is started and finished, which leads him on to another of his favourite words alongside passion... patience. A project can take many years to complete from initial designs to finding the land, submitting a planning application and getting approval.

A question that has to be asked here: how does contemporary architecture fits in a place like the Algarve, which is steeped in history and, away from the coastal resorts, overflowing with ancient buildings and cobbled streets that form many of the region’s towns?

Mário is clear here; his belief is that you have to respect the old buildings by building completely new ones. He says that older buildings should not be demolished to make way for modern structures. But at the same time, new builds should not be an appendage to an existing building of a historical nature.

A masterpiece of design

A perfect example of this sentiment is what has become arguably Mário’s most famous build. Elliptic House in Lagos completed in 2014, sits dramatically on a sloping cliff face. Completely separate and set away from the more traditional properties of the town, it is a brilliant visual explanation of Mário’s principal that contemporary architecture is kept separate from the historical so both can be admired and respected on their own terms.

Although Mário loves every project he completes, he particularly enjoyed this build. The landscape Elliptic House sits upon gave him the creative freedom to design and build this optically unique home; a space so large and empty, a real blank canvas.

Using the surroundings of the sea and the vast blue sky, Mário focused on brilliant white to reflect the sun that bounces off the cliffs, and fluid and cylindrical lines to reflect the shape of the coastal landscape.

Of this build, he says: “The home’s design is the result of an idea, which was then all but sculpted into the terrain. For a structure of such breadth, it certainly conveys a weightless feeling, as if it’s constantly in motion, twirling around itself as it concurrently twirls in place in the wild overlooking the sea.”

But in truth, those are just fanciful descriptions of what is a very carefully thought out and engineered design, one that is both intriguing and practical.

The various stages

Mário still starts his designs by hand despite having all of the digital tools available to modern man. He shows me his sketch book, which is a work of art in itself, brimming with ideas for future projects. Clients can take a look through it to see if any of his ideas fit their plans, or, if they are not sure about the type of build they want, they can use it for inspiration.

Here, Mário is not dissimilar to one of his favourite architects, British urban designer Gordon Cullen, who was a key motivator in the townscape movement post-war; his techniques consisted largely of sketchy drawings that conveyed a particularly clear understanding of his ideas.

Mário’s client’s chosen design is put onto a computer and 3D models are made, which the whole team can access and continually update and remodel as the project progresses.

Mário does not have a favourite material, he is happy to work with all materials and colours and is keen to use the right ones for the job. He does, however, favour natural materials that age well and are sustainable and renewable like stone and wood and, like a lot of his peers, he does not want to use plastic.

Many of Mário’s clients may steer towards a build similar to something they have seen on social media that is very on trend at the time. But, he says, the key is to resist what could fast become outdated and a fad. As he is quick to point out, your project, especially if it is your home, is something you will have to live with for a very long time so it should be something that you will want to look at for many years, despite how fashions may change.

It is the internet, unquestionably, which has opened Mário’s work up to the world. Anyone can log onto his website and see his treasured designs for themselves. However, it hasn’t come without its problems. Although the digital inventions of the last decade have undoubtably made parts of his job easier, Mário says people across the world are looking at the films and photos of his finished projects online and trying to recreate them, which will never work.

Although it is flattering, with access to his mind, something he has designed and built could never truly be recreated. Mário tells me that he has seen replicas of his work in many corners of the world created by admirers, but more to the point, by people who do not want to or are able to pay him for his design services.

The result, sadly, is a lesser finished product, often built with materials not suited to the surroundings. This is a downside of digitalisation as he sees it.

Currently, Mário is working on the designs for his latest top-secret Algarve-based project, in which he is engrossed in working around any problems that have arisen.

I ask him if this is his favourite build so far, and, with the excitement of a child, he tells me that his favourite project will always be the one he’s working on. He tells me that this is always the way because if he thought what he did the last time was the best he could do, then there would be no point in continuing.

So, yes, for the time being, this very unique build, which will hopefully be revealed sometime in the not-too-distant future, will hold a special place in Mário’s heart, until he’s ready for his next architectural adventure, that is.