Boa Nova Tea House

Set among the rocks on the shore, this tea house and restaurant is one of the first works of the Portuguese architect, won in a competition and built between 1958 and 1963 while he was still in his twenties.

The building is laid low into the granite outcrop, its white walls and red tiled roofs following the rocks so that it seems to grow from the coast. Visitors approach along a path and steps between walls that frame the sea, then pass from compressed, dim entrance spaces into the dining room, where a long horizontal window opens onto the ocean.

Inside, dark timber ceilings, copper and carefully drawn joinery create a warm, enclosed atmosphere against the brightness of the Atlantic. In 2014 the architect himself led a restoration that renewed the building while keeping its original character.