Location: Cascais, Portugal.

Architect: Souto Moura – Arquitectos Lda.

The Casa das Histórias Paula Rego is a museum designed by architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, incorporating aspects of the region’s historical architecture in a contemporary way. The building features two pyramid-shaped towers and red-colored concrete, with the surrounding land and trees incorporated as fundamental elements. The interior has 750m2 of exhibition space, a shop, a café, and an auditorium with 200 seats. The design meets the artist’s wishes and requirements for a museum while giving visitors a warm welcome. Souto de Moura’s approach is described as “regionalist” but uncritical, avoiding unnecessary decorative or picturesque frills. The building’s scale and insertion in the surrounding area are contextualized in a specific type of geography, with a close proximity to the work of Raul Lino in a “Southern” landscape.