Architecture office Filipe Pina Arquitectura has completed the Mountain Shelters (Abrigos de Montanha), a trio of minimal, sustainable refuges embedded into the vast, untamed landscape of Serra da Esperança, Belmonte, Portugal. Designed for The Vagar Country House, the project directly responds to a brief calling for a structure that evokes the imagery of the regional Shepherds’ Shelters, or “Choças,” across a sprawling 250-hectare site.
The resultant three shelters are a contemporary reinterpretation of the vernacular form. They adopt the simple, powerful geometry of an equilateral triangular prism, developed as a single, compact volume. The structures are strategically placed at high points across the mountain, ensuring they are expertly camouflaged among the endemic vegetation and natural rocky outcrops. This site-specific architecture respects the existing topography and is oriented to offer users privileged views of the Cova da Beira valley and Serra da Estrela—Portugal’s highest peak.
Functionally, the shelters feature a modular configuration, allowing each unit to operate independently as a dedicated workspace or an intimate refuge for guests. This simplified assembly maintains a powerful, unbroken connection with the landscape. Inside, the layout is pared-down: a single volume containing the bathroom and storage serves as the only partition separating the living and sleeping areas.
The aesthetic is driven by honest, natural materials. Certified wood forms the primary structure, selected for its quality, durability, and crucial ability to age beautifully and naturally as it weathers into the mountain setting. This commitment to materials that respect and reflect the setting is central to the project’s sustainability principles.
Crucially, large, glazed window surfaces dominate the primary facades. These expansive openings—featuring products by brands like Anicolor and Velux —flood the interiors with natural light, dramatically dissolving the boundarybetween the interior space and the mountain environment. This deliberate dissolution of the limit provides an experience in full connection with nature , a goal the architects set to achieve even in these remote locations.
Completed in 2025, the Mountain Shelters exemplify how architecture is an essential tool for promoting sustainable practices and the conservation of natural ecosystems. The design proposes a replicable, sustainable shelter that can be harmoniously integrated into any appropriate landscape, seeking to generate new natural, social, and cultural landscapes. Filipe Pina Arquitectura partnered with engineers like Ricardo Pereira and the structures were photographed by Ivo Tavares Studio.