The rolling hills of this picturesque corner of Paradinha, Portugal have long been nearly empty, except for a small, formerly abandoned village. Recently, newcomers moved in to build the Paradinha Village Resort, offering nearby city dwellers a tranquil nature retreat accessed by narrow roads that criss-cross through the mountains. The hoteliers commissioned Portuguese firm Summary Architects to deploy a series of 11 guest cabins across the challenging terrain, which was too remote for standard construction methods.

“This project was an opportunity to make new experiences within the Gomos building system: in each house, all the technical installations (water, electricity, and climatization) were concentrated in just one module and extended to the other models externally,” the architects say. “This procedure was standardly repeated in the whole project, accelerating its production/assembly process.”
Summary calls this system “evolutionary,” explaining that each module leaves the factory completely ready to live in, including all interior and exterior finishes, insulation, windows, water and electricity, and even built-in furniture. The system is designed to be flexible, so the structures can be sized up or down or given slightly different proportions according to the user’s needs.

In Paradinha, this translates to a series of angular modern buildings sheltered from the harsh sunlight and set at just the right angles to take advant...