Amar Porto Covo

On the coast of Porto Covo, a village in the Setúbal district of Portugal's Alentejo region, some 180 kilometers south of Lisbon, External Reference is transforming a degraded 59,000 m² site into a regenerative resort. The land was previously home to the Costa do Vizir campsite, established in 1995, its bungalows, tent plots, and hard pavements having steadily eroded the area's original biodiversity and left it exposed to flooding, drought, and wildfire.

The project's response begins underground, with the linhas de água (water lines), the seasonal natural canals that once regulated the site's water cycle. Restoring this system as the backbone of a passive water management strategy allows the land to absorb, channel, and release water on its own terms again. Non-native vegetation gives way to indigenous species, reintroducing habitat and reducing fire risk, while the design draws its formal language directly from this logic: riverbeds and the forests that grow around them.

Conceived as a boho-chic, epicurean hotel complex, the resort is organised across three sectors: social spaces, accommodation, and support services, integrated into the landscape with minimal visual and environmental disruption. Cork finishes and rammed earth walls anchor the architecture in local material culture, supporting regional industries while blending the built structure into its surroundings.

Currently under construction, Amar Porto Covo offers a hospitality experience that responds to its context rather than overriding it, combining sustainable development with local identity and design that enhances the setting it inhabits.