A [Brick] Book to present a [Brick] House
Primosfera is a family-owned and independent real estate company that values authenticity, sustainability, and attention to detail in selecting building materials.
The Brick House (Casa de Tijolo) is a memorable project. Designed by Aires Mateus Architecture Studio, inspired by roman houses with interior patios, it's entirely built with handmade bricks from Alentejo. We were challenged to create a piece that could both promote and perpetuate the project.
The Brick House (Casa de Tijolo) is a memorable project. Designed by Aires Mateus Architecture Studio, inspired by roman houses with interior patios, it's entirely built with handmade bricks from Alentejo. We were challenged to create a piece that could both promote and perpetuate the project.
“Inside each Brick lives the story of something bigger.” – Manuel Aires Mateus (Brick House Architect)
The Brick is a central issue in the architectural design, with 1200mts2 and 300
thousand of bricks, handmade, massive, stacked seamlessly. We honor the brick
by turning it into a book. In collaboration with Master craftsmen, we created the [Brick] Book from dust. Handmade with the same raw material, size and color as the house, the first edition comprises 200 books. The [Brick] Book serves as a piece of the house, presented to potential investors, architects, and members of the artistic community.The size of the brick determines the interior volume. Starting from the imperfection of the brick, the mathematical perfection of the book was reached: 205mm by 95mm and exactly 340 pages.
The book explores the importance of home in the creation and preservation of memories. Its pages are filled with stories about the Alentejo region, the house's dreamers - the owners and architect - and the project's three pillars: Earth, Brick, and House. The book's power lies in the harmony between evocative photography and carefully crafted prose, utilizing format, space, and typography to create a captivating reading experience.
The Brick is a central issue in the architectural design, with 1200mts2 and 300
thousand of bricks, handmade, massive, stacked seamlessly. We honor the brick
by turning it into a book. In collaboration with Master craftsmen, we created the [Brick] Book from dust. Handmade with the same raw material, size and color as the house, the first edition comprises 200 books. The [Brick] Book serves as a piece of the house, presented to potential investors, architects, and members of the artistic community.The size of the brick determines the interior volume. Starting from the imperfection of the brick, the mathematical perfection of the book was reached: 205mm by 95mm and exactly 340 pages.
The book explores the importance of home in the creation and preservation of memories. Its pages are filled with stories about the Alentejo region, the house's dreamers - the owners and architect - and the project's three pillars: Earth, Brick, and House. The book's power lies in the harmony between evocative photography and carefully crafted prose, utilizing format, space, and typography to create a captivating reading experience.
Craftsmanship and Sustainability
The [Brick] Book is a one-of-a-kind of folk art, handcrafted with natural Portuguese soil material to celebrate traditional craftsmanship.
We carefully select materials that optimize the carbon footprint of the project like local clay for the book and recycled paper for the core. LED technology was used for quicker dying, printing using 40% less ink.
The [Brick] Book is a rare collectible available in select bookstores and galleries worldwide, showcasing "Casa do Tijolo" property and local craftsmanship, promoting cultural heritage in a unique way.
"In a pottery, a solitary artisan, moving at the methodical pace of the land, produces a solid brick using artisanal techniques. But this brick is not the end. It is the beginning" – João de Sousa (Videographer)
The [Brick] House
The initial inspiration arose from memory: a house that conjures the summers of old beside the sea, a family hideaway between the ocean and the countryside, between the fragrance of labdanum and the sea air, quiet afternoons of buzzing cicadas and the running of water on a hill-top farm in the Alentejo.
This inspiration led to an idea: to create a house built of natural, solid and genuine materials.
Hundreds of thousands of solid handmade bricks piled one upon the other without correction. Mathematical perfection achieved out of the imperfection of brick. A house that resists and endures. The exploitation of the time variable in executing the plan and construction was crucial. Because pausing a project in time is one of Primosfera’s unique facets, a necessary condition to ensure quality and representative of a specific way of doing things.
The initial inspiration arose from memory: a house that conjures the summers of old beside the sea, a family hideaway between the ocean and the countryside, between the fragrance of labdanum and the sea air, quiet afternoons of buzzing cicadas and the running of water on a hill-top farm in the Alentejo.
This inspiration led to an idea: to create a house built of natural, solid and genuine materials.
Hundreds of thousands of solid handmade bricks piled one upon the other without correction. Mathematical perfection achieved out of the imperfection of brick. A house that resists and endures. The exploitation of the time variable in executing the plan and construction was crucial. Because pausing a project in time is one of Primosfera’s unique facets, a necessary condition to ensure quality and representative of a specific way of doing things.
The result is authenticity, a house that one senses, an extension of nature. A courtyard house that revolves around open-air spaces that intentionally follow one after the other. This repetition creates a coherence, but each courtyard has a separate identity, creating different sensory experiences and atmospheres, with the constant presence of water and flowers, climbing plants, aromatic herbs, wild strawberries and citrus fruit trees.
The story is set out in a book. Sketches, articles, conversations, photographs, the site, the journey and the finished house: the whole project preserved in a clay box – a memory of brick as a foundation, the weight of time, written down for posterity.
Film: João de Sousa
Film VO: Catarina Wallenstein
Text: Hugo Gonçalves
Architect: Manuel Aires Mateus
Architecture Photography: João Guimarães
Book Photography: Nuno Moreira
Brick Production: Bacelar - Pereira
Brick Book Production: Maiadouro
Design e Art Direction: This is Pacifica
Film VO: Catarina Wallenstein
Text: Hugo Gonçalves
Architect: Manuel Aires Mateus
Architecture Photography: João Guimarães
Book Photography: Nuno Moreira
Brick Production: Bacelar - Pereira
Brick Book Production: Maiadouro
Design e Art Direction: This is Pacifica
