RECONNECTING WITH THE LAND AT PORTUGAL’S PA.TE.OS
Interview by Sarah Len
Photography by Francisco Nogueira
A moment, slowed down sufficiently, is enough to hear the universe. In meditation you learn to listen in layers, first paying attention to the most obvious sounds and then listening for farther away details, making a crisper contrast to awareness while simultaneously letting go of discernment. Seeing is the same, and so is feeling. Being in Pa.te.os – the house-turned-hotel with wellness and luxury at its core – is an exercise in sublime meditation. The mille-foile of sounds consists of birds, bees, the lapping of the ocean, the sway of olive trees, cork trees, the creak of the wood that breathes. A sound so crisp it makes a harmony out of exhaling. The sight matches the music – a scouting of beauty and serenity wherever eyes lay upon; the piece of resistance being the Atlantic coastline, the same sight that centuries ago inspired a sense of possibility, bewilderment, and exploration. A beauty as modern as it is ancient – a luxury that stands the test of time, sealed with a scent of ocean breeze that travels from the waves to the bespoke perfume inside of the three villas, which are meant to capture and elicit a memory.
Located over the Melides lagoon, in the coastal Alentejo region south of Lisbon, Pa.te.os is an oasis that became a hotel out of the desire to share the experience of magic with others. It was initially devised as a family home by developer Miguel Charters of Primosfera with the intention of celebrating the outdoors, slow-living, a connection to nature, and a love of architecture (they enlisted Portuguese architect Manuel Aires Mateus), all tethered to the nucleus of a courtyard patio. Since then its been slowly transforming into a destination so serene that guests are happy to begin and end their exploration of the area in the vastness of comfort, taking in the resident beehives and vineyards, eating locally grown and cooked meals from bread to produce, and wading in and out of the indoor-outdoor barefoot luxury, bathing, reading, swimming, and simply being. Pa.te.os has ambitions to keep expanding the potential of the land by respecting the possibility of its self sufficiency and environmentalism. But the realest ambition lies in creating an experience that feels genuine and humble, something that both guests and staff experience with the level of connectivity and inclusion. They understand that the ultimate luxury is the ability of presentness – undisturbed relationship to nature, to time, and to experience.
Sarah Len: Can you tell me first a bit about your vision for Pa.teo.os?
Miguel Charters: Pa.te.os began as a project for family and friends. So it was not going to be a hospitality project. It was just being designed in a way to receive family and friends. It is inserted on a large plot of land overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and very close to Melides. I always wanted to have more people visiting and seeing what the countryside is about. So the idea was first, let’s build a house for family and friends. So it was more of a residential project and then changed it to a hospitality project.
We started hospitality with this vision for Pa.te.os to build a full service offering to our guests because we understood the people who visit us immediately start canceling their appointments in restaurants and in places that they wanted to visit and they just want to stay there. Just six months later we were offering full service, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The purpose is all about getting back to basics on all levels of your life. People that visit us are able to do some kind of reset, and everyone has different needs for resetting. Some are more psychological, some more physical. The idea is that you reconnect with yourself, nature, and with the cosmos.
The people who come to Pa.te.os are cultural intellectual people who appreciate the very good aspects of life. But not in a material way, much more in an essential.
SL: And how did you integrate regenerative agriculture into the project?
MC: It makes a small estate that has around 85 hectares of land. The concept was always to integrate agriculture. In the beginning, it was the vineyard with the idea to produce wine there that is a reflection of our values. It’s all about being authentic in the countryside. And if you extrapolate this to the wine project, the authenticity comes with the approach of integrating the plants, treating them as individuals rather than a collective of plants.
The way we did the zoning of the plants, the way we studied each part of the soil with different characteristics motivated different layouts for each parcel, the study of erosion and water cycles.
It’s not just about what you see, it’s all about what you feel and what you smell and the quality of the air and the quality of the water.
“The concept was always to integrate agriculture. In the beginning, it was the vineyard with the idea to produce wine there that is a reflection of our values. It’s all about being authentic in the countryside. And if you extrapolate this to the wine project, the authenticity comes with the approach of integrating the plants, treating them as individuals rather than a collective of plants.“
– Miguel Charters
SL: I saw that you have bee hives on the property and the honey is then served with your homemade bread in the morning.
MC: Alongside the vineyard we have what we call the farm project. Right now we are introducing this farm to table concept again with the approach of authenticity, bringing what we already produce on site to our clients and customers. We are now going to grow almost 100% of our produce. We will also produce herbs and plants to process our essential oils.
Then we’ll start introducing the chickens, sheep, goats and pigs. We are organizing the pasture so that they are free in the wild, eating from what the soil brings and creating a real ecosystem, where they give back to soil and the soil gives back to them. Basically, in the end, we will supply everything that we eat more or less from the site. The goal is not just for our guests, but for all the people that work on the farm including staff.
The objective is to be fully inclusive.
SL: You also collaborated with the architects Manuel Aires Mateus.
MC: Yes. So I think the first most important part is Manuel and I agreed that the homes fuse and merge very well with the place. This was the baseline that we discussed, that the houses should adapt to the place in the location.
It is the site that determines the place.The idea is designed around the concept of Pa.te.os, meaning courtyard or patio. We wanted to connect the outdoor with the indoor and the indoor with the outdoor. Alentejo has a very wide range of temperatures so we have designed the houses in a way that when you open the windows they disappear into concrete, so you feel like you are in a cabana and you don’t know exactly where the house ends and nature starts.
SL: I was just curious about this incredible scent that permeates the entire property.
MC: People can transport themselves freely with a scent. It’s not just creating memories, it’s more of a transportation of memories and taking them with you. We felt that the scent was one of the best ways to remember the place after you leave. Perfumer Lynn Harris came to visit and she fell in love with the site. So the idea of the scent is exactly a transportation. It’s also about the feelings that you experience in the place. It’s a mixture of the three main elements that you have at Pa.te.os – The soil is the predominant element, and you have the Atlantic breezes from the ocean. So, you have this sense of sea and saltiness, and the breeze of the ocean. Then the flora, which includes eucalyptus in the damp areas, oak trees, pine trees, and olive trees.
You can take a picture of a view. But you cannot take a picture of a scent. So that’s what’s really amazing.
SL: What it’s your approach to real estate and what kind of social, environmental or cultural responsibilities do you believe you have in place-making as a developer?
MC: If you do the academics, real estate is all about location, but this is from a commercial standpoint. For me, the first thing is exactly the location, but in the sense of the respect of the place and its heritage. You have a site that will continue after you pass through this life. Respect for the location then translates into the construction approach and the methods that we use. We asked ourselves how our proposal is going to positively affect the place rather than satisfy a need.
We are not just doing square meters for a commercial purpose. No, we are doing so much more. The way we invest in assets is the way a collector invests in an arts collection, trying to choose the best paintings for his walls and to make its collection more valuable. And this is what we’re trying to do to create value in the long term.
“It’s a very laid-back, uncompromised, unpretentious, relaxed way of living.“
– Miguel Charters
SL: What do you see is the future of Melides, Portugal?
MC: I see it’s now with a lot of pressure in terms of investments. So many people found this coastline – which is really a paradise on earth – and we are seeing a lot of investment going on with a lot of new developments there. Fortunately, I see it as sustainable growth. I think the density in Melides will increase but it will continue to be an amazing place to go because you will never have these massive developments. What you have there today, of course, is increasing, but I think it’s possible to retain the quality and the philosophy and the ethos of what it is. I think it’s possible. It’s a very laid-back, uncompromised, unpretentious, relaxed way of living.
