11 Tiny Prefab Cabins Pop Up in the Woods of Portugal

Architect Samuel Gonçalves of Porto-based Summary has developed a system for constructing prefabricated, modular structures from concrete—and the firm’s latest project is a series of 11 compact cabins in the woods of Paradinha, a small village in Alvarenga, Portugal.

"We considered the area’s natural and ancestral elements, and distributed the cabins according to the configuration of the land, altering the plot as little as possible," says Gonçalves. "We preserved old stone walls and existing trees, some of them protected species, by carefully placing the cabins around them."

This approach provided each cabin with a a different orientation—some overlook the Paiva River, while others face the rolling hills and towering oak and cork trees that populate the region. "The terrain is very hilly," Gonçalves says. "It’s a quiet and peaceful forest, where you can hear the river all the time."

Gonçalves’s Gomos System offered an ideal solution for Paradinha’s steep terrain. "It would’ve been extremely difficult and expensive to do traditional construction in the area," he says. "This prompted us to use prefabrication."