I met Nicholas Burns at a birthday party in Indonesia. A jungle resort, natural pool carved from rock. We ended up floating there for hours, talking about hifi audio systems and architecture. A few months later, back in Europe, my phone rang. Nicholas had a project in northern Portugal. A winery built into the side of a hill. Charred oak, weathered steel, natural slate pulled from quarries an hour north. Could I come? I spent three days on the estate in Minho. The building disappears into the hillside at certain hours. Morning light hits the steel cladding and turns it copper. By afternoon, the charred timber recedes into shadow, and you lose the structure entirely against the forest. The winery uses gravity to move wine from upper to lower levels—no pumps, no machinery disrupting what the grapes become. Everything flows downward naturally. Inside, the walls are Venetian plaster, applied by local artisans who've worked these estates for generations. Portuguese oak lines the ceiling. The space feels carved from the earth rather than imposed upon it. No trees were cut. Granite boulders discovered during excavation were left in place and integrated into the design. The entrance pathway is hand-chipped stone that settles into wild landscape, pulling the forest floor down around the building. The images became the project's visual record. They appear in design publications now, on the studio's website, in materials for the estate's private wine production. One shoot, structured around how the building breathes with its surroundings—how it becomes part of the hill rather than sitting on top of it.
Project – Quinta do Mosteiro Adega
Architecture – Studio Nicholas Burns
Location – Minho, Portugal
Photography – Mathyas Kurmann
Featured – Designboom, Divisare, Archello, We Heart