Lagoa de Santo André by Studio 3A is a project born from complexity — a negotiation between nature, memory, and the strict constraints of regulatory oversight. Set on one of Portugal’s most magical beaches, the project replaces two long-abandoned restaurants with a pair of sculptural, earth-built beach restaurants that honour the landscape and its rhythms.
From the outset, the project faced an intricate web of building restrictions imposed by multiple public entities, making every step of the process demanding. Yet these constraints only deepened the studio’s commitment to creating architecture rooted in place — modest, enduring, and quietly powerful.
The new buildings are constructed from compressed earth bricks, finished with an earth-based render that blends seamlessly into the surrounding dunes. Inside, a flowing sequence of arches and vaults recalls the undulating forms of sand and wind, transforming the interiors into an extension of the landscape itself.
In a gesture that connects past to present, elements of the original structures — once destined for waste — were carefully reused in the terrazzo floors, embedding fragments of the former buildings into the foundation of the new. This not only reduced construction waste but anchored the new architecture to the layered history of the site.
Lagoa de Santo André is a celebration of working with constraint, with earth, and with memory — a place where architecture becomes part of the landscape rather than imposed upon it.
