Local architect Pedro Miguel Santos has completed a temple-inspired house in northern Portugal, featuring white brick walls and an exposed concrete frame.

TS House was designed by Miguel Santos as a family home and is set on a large plot of land on the outskirts of the town of Penafiel.

The house features a simple symmetrical floor plan and pared-back material palette, lending it a monolithic and classical feel.

"The absence of tensions in the diluted rural surroundings guided its structure into a completely symmetrical arrangement," the architect explained. "This way the house lands on the ground as a temple, alien to its surroundings."

The building's exposed concrete framework divides it internally into six sections, suited to different functions.

"As in classical architecture, the programme is completely submissive to the house's structure, which is completely revealed inside and outside," Miguel Santos suggested.

The exposed structure and the division of spaces is accentuated by details, such as changes in the flooring materials, which help to define the different rooms.

Externally, the concrete structure contrasts with white brick surfaces laid in a combination of stretcher bond and stack bond. The materials were chosen to reinforce the classical approach and to gradually weather over time.

"This duality of materials and variation of patterns created a second layer of design over the simple and symmetrical facades," Miguel Santos added, "making the house's materiality part of the overall composition."

A subterranean garage hidden below the house helps to preserve its freestanding, monumental presence in the landscape. Pedestrian and vehicular access is separated by connecting the main entrance and garage with different perpendicular streets.

A staircase at the centre of building connects the basement garage and service areas with the living spaces on the ground floor.

Internally, the texture of the exposed concrete is complemented by the rich grain of the timber flooring and joinery. Whitewashed surfaces that echo the external brickwork contribute to a bright and minimal feel throughout the spaces.