Luxuriant landscape: Cabeço House, Santana, Madeira, Portugal by MSB Architectos.

Photos: MSB Architectos.

The English Landscape painter John Constable would usually paint with a plethora of different greens, but one thing that helped to pull his paintings from the ordinary, was a clever and cunning touch of red! The red, often depicted as an item of clothing on a peasant figure, need not be particularly bright, but just sufficient to contrast with the greens like a dash of pepper contrasts with the sweet and sour flavours of strawberries.

On the lush, green island of Madeira, MSB Architects have applied the same principle as Constable did, enhancing an entire landscape with its brightly coloured building.

The site is steep, giving the opportunity to break-up the volume of the house to take advantage of the topography and the views. The building is arranged in three parts: as a more public area where cars are parked, cooking is done and guests are received, then there are private quarters, and finally an interconnecting circulation volume unifying the composition. Orientation is carefully controlled to balance the views to the north, and the sun to the south.

Built in 2011 the house consists of 2038 square metres and a collection of wonderful views.

Gratitude to Platforma Arquitectura.