Architect Designed Homes

Architect Designed Homes

Rui Passos, Architect Profile   

Portuguese architect Rui Passos is one of the top housing and resort architects in the country. A native of Porto, he has worked on a wide variety of projects including many custom homes and resorts. He has worked for several major architecture firms and currently has his own architecture firm, Rui Passos, Arquitectura e Rehabilitação Urbana, Lda located in Setubal. In addition to the homes he is designing, he is also coordinating the master project at Bom Sucesso.

Other current projects include building the new head office of the National Insurance Company of Angola in Luanda and an integrated tourism and hotel complex in Vale da Ribeira, Stª Cruz, Torres Vedras. He has taught at the Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias – Lisbon as a visiting professor.

Rui Passos has been involved with Bom Sucesso from the beginning, working on such aspects as the Sales Building, Rowing Club and 21 original townhouses in the first phase of the project. In the current phase of the project, he is designing the villas on lots 41 – 51. These homes are located near the southeast edge of the resort.

Of these villas, the architect says: “The enjoyment of the exterior space is in our view, the most importance factor in this form of dwelling: the composition is based on the traditional Japanese organization module (KEN) of the living space, whose rationality and proportionality, together with the opening out the house to its exterior, provides these living and leisure areas, preserving the privacy of the house."

To see the plans for the homes on lots 41 and 42, please click here.

To see elevations for the homes on lots 41 and 42, please click here.

Bom Sucesso Design Resort, Leisure, Golf and Spa

Near the historic town of Óbidos, on the Silver Coast of Portugal, is Bom Sucesso, an exclusive Design Resort being constructed around a championship golf course, spa and recreational facilities. This one-of-a-kind development is located alongside the Óbidos Lagoon and has a large nature reserve to provide unparalleled opportunities for outdoor activities as well as some of the best homes available anywhere.

Bom Sucesso is being constructed on over 1.5 million square meters and will contain 601 residences in both villas and townhouses. There will also be a five-start hotel with spa, swimming pools, and the 18-hole Donald Steel golf course. The housing is being designed by 23 of Europe’s leading architects. Each architect is designing a set of homes that will highlight their specific styles and tastes. These homes will be both contemporary and fit in to the larger environment, providing the owners with uniquely styled residences of the highest quality.

This resort offers buyers the opportunity to be a part of something special. Having a home designed by some of these architects simply wouldn’t be possible in ordinary circumstances. By bringing them together, though, Bom Sucesso enables buyers to not only have a home from one of these masters, but to choose the design that best fits their own personal tastes.

This resort, with its array of architects and designs, is so innovative that the government of Portugal is backing it as a “project of national significance.” In addition to Portugal’s great Álvaro Siza Vieira, other high-profile architects who are lending their talents to Bom Sucesso include David Chipperfield, Goncalo Byrne, Ines Lobo and Carlos Prata. There are a total of 23 of the most well-known architects in Portugal and Europe working on this luxury development.

Some other recent projects that Rui Passos has worked on: 

• Developed the worldwide network of “Select” convenience stores for Shell International, which were used in Oslo, Copenhagen, London, Bilbao, Vitória, Madrid and Lisbon.

• Also for Shell, in association with the Architecture Firm Swanke, Hayden & Connell Int., developed the project design rules for the head offices of this company in Europe, having authored the rehabilitation and remodeling of the headquarters of the company in Av. Liberdade, Lisbon.

• In 1995, in association with Architect Raúl Chorão Ramalho, Rui Passos constructed the new HQ complex of Funchal Social Security for the Madeira Regional Government.

• Estudo de Aproveitamento for Lots 6,7 and 8 of the Vilanova Complex, including 112 apartments (studio and one bedroom) and commercial areas, totalling 9 572 m2 in Areias de S, João, Algarve (with Vasco Mendia.

• Project for the construction of the Housing Complex at Rua das Sortes, Montes de Azurva, Aveiro (with Diogo Burnay and Vasco Mendia) – constructed.