Casa da Volta – A film by Minorstep

Video short description

My latest work for Casa da Volta, a high-end villa resort at the heart of Comporta, Portugal. It's a film telling the story of a marvelous architectural take on rural living, designed by Promontorio and Silva Cravo architects that combines contemporary minimalism with nostalgic timelessness. It sits at the intersection between dramatic Atlantic coastline, quaint Alentejan villages, and buzzy beach towns in a landscape filled with heavy trees, cows, and a tranquil pace of life. The wavey topography contrasts with the harsh dryness of the landscape and its bare vegetation of cork and holm oaks with bushes creeping from the calcareous soil. The house is devised as a walled court, onto which a series of inner volumes are set, but an exception is made to the East elevation, as it opens up to a large terrace overlooking the vastness of the landscape and a small creek below. The contrast between the rural-inspired design of the house and the brutalist, sculptural pool is my favorite part of the house and I knew I wanted to capture that in all its glory and at different times of the day. My work is focused on architecture and design, with a clear minimalist point of view, whether it's in my home country Greece, or Portugal, or London where I reside, so the house was a perfect fit. Stripping things down to the essentials, and elevating these as much as possible, allows me to ask the right questions and cut to the chase. My intention was on capturing the beautiful light, the interesting textures, the undeniable sense of calm found in the property, the clean lines of the architecture, and the connection of it with nature and the landscape. George Kroustallis / Minorstep