The Old Houses

There is something wonderfully elemental about these spaces. Imbued with history, being a home over the years for animals, for food storage and for people. There is an innate connection with a ruin or old building, one tries to imagine the lives that once lived within it. How to contemplate a re-living within those walls, with respect to those generations before who’s skilled hands built it and with respect to the materials that it is made from. The stone sourced from the surrounding landscape, the wood from the local chestnut forest, the tiles from the south of Portugal perhaps being a much later addition. Many houses were originally thatched.

How to reimagine this space, a humble building true to its origins, yet fitting to modern life, a place to contemplate the mountain and the landscape.

The buildings on the land of Altan Tepe are all formed from granite. Some of the stones have been cut from the rocks on the land and other stones, brought from the local area. The original building was also part wood and wattle and daub..

The stones of the house are currently covered in places with cement render, that we will begin to remove so that we can begin to repair the stone work, with lime and clay.

There are many other constructions on the land built from stone. It is a wonder to think of all the hands and labours involved over the years to make these spaces.