All-white modern house plays up the angles

The ranch house often brings to mind horizontal, single-story homes that define suburban splendor. And while this home in Portugal carries much of the same ranch house DNA—single level, open layout, big windows—it redefines the genre altogether.

Vítor Vilhena Arquitectura designed the pristine white house to sit on top of a hill in a small Portuguese village. Its simple rectangular frame disguises the clever complexity of Vilhena’s design.

Photo: Fernando Guerra via Designboom

The house is all 90 degree angles, from the sharp corners of the roof to the rectangular windows that cut into the matte, white facade. One corner of the house is encased in large windows that turn the space into a glowing box at night. The other end has a carport with an overhang that hovers over the driveway.

Photo: Fernando Guerra via Designboom

Photo: Fernando Guerra via Designboom

The most remarkable part of the house is hidden from view altogether—at least until you walk up a staircase. There you’ll find an expansive roof terrace where a swimming pool stretches to the edge of the house like a floating infinity pool.

Photo: Fernando Guerra via Designboom

Via: Designboom