House in Alcobaça by Aires Mateus
Portuguese studio Aires Mateus has transformed a house in Portugal into a bright white building with a sprawling extension (+ slideshow).
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_4sq.jpg)
The three-storey house is located in Alcobaça, a Portuguese city dominated by the presence of a twelfth century monastery, and it occupies a large irregularly shaped site on the edge of the river Dull.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_3sq.jpg)
Aires Mateus upgraded and extended an existing residence and made every surface inside and outside of the house white, allowing it stand out amongst the brown and pink tones of the surrounding local architecture.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_13.jpg)
The new windows appear as narrow vertical slices. Some of them overlap the white-painted frames that housed the windows before the renovation and each one is sunken into a deep recess, revealing the thickness of the exterior walls.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_5.jpg)
Residents enter the house on the middle floor, where a staircase leads up and down towards either a top floor mezzanine or a lower floor living room.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_18.jpg)
A curved skylight punctures the roof overhead and projects a teardrop-shaped splash of light onto the walls of the stairwell.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_7.jpg)
Another curved opening leads from the living room to the rooms of the expansive extension, where a kitchen, a dining room and three bedrooms are spaced out around a series of small square courtyards.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_22.jpg)
Storage closets are contained inside each of the thick walls that separate the rooms.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_24.jpg)
The L-shaped garden wraps around the edge of the house and is bounded by the chunky white perimeter walls.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_27.jpg)
Aires Mateus is a Lisbon-based architectural studio led by Manual and Francisco Aires Mateus. Past projects include a nursing home in Alcácer do Sal and houses with sandy floors that were exhibited for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_10.jpg)
See more Portuguese houses on Dezeen, including a house in Lisbon with bushy plants on its facade.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_14.jpg)
See more architecture in Portugal »
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_2.jpg)
Photography is by Fernando Guerra.
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_GFP.gif)
Above: lower ground floor plan - click above for larger image
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_FFP.gif)
Above: upper ground floor plan - click above for larger image
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_SFP.gif)
Above: top floor plan - click above for larger image
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_sectionaa.gif)
Above: cross section - click above for larger image
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_sectionbb.gif)
Above: long section - click above for larger image
![House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus House in Alcobaca by Aires Mateus](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/dezeen_House-in-Alcobaca-by-Aires-Mateus_elevation.gif)
Above: rear elevation - click above for larger image