L’And Vineyards Resort

Located on a gentle valley facing South and overlooking the skyline of the town’s medieval castle, the master plan was devised in a system of clustered villas and terraced row-houses reminiscent of the former agricultural compounds of the Alentejo, known as montes - hills in English; an etymological reference to their topographic condition. In addition, a small lake cools the air and is used for leisure activities besides serving as a sustainable water-retaining basin for agriculture. Besides designing the master plan, the hotel, the apartments and a nucleus of villas, Promontorio was invited to curate the invitation to four other studios to design the remaining nucleuses of villas, namely: Peter Märkli, Sergison Bates, Carrilho da Graça and José Paulo dos Santos. Other than a common respect for the landscape, the approaches of each studio reveal a wealth of different design experiences, despite working with the same programme parameters and cluster boundaries. For its innovative approach to tourism, landscape and design, this master plan has received wide international acclaim and many aspects of its programme have served as benchmark for other tourism projects.