Hotel of the Week: Philippe Starck Shapes a Tranquil Hideaway and Private Residences in Portugal
The famed French architect conceives a secluded oasis in his adopted community of Melides, with quiet villas that artfully meld into the unspoiled landscape
“After 120 years traveling around the world, I now know that the best place in the world to live is Europe,” declares Philippe Starck, deadpan. And of all the places in Europe, he favors France—and, better yet, Portugal, thanks largely to its people, whom he describes as “the last tribe in the world who have kept value, value of respect, love, honesty, kindness.”
Standing in the glass-walled office of ASerra, a new residential and hospitality project taking shape in the wooded hills above Melides—a sleepy Alentejo village near fashionable Comporta—the French designer makes a sweeping gesture towards the landscape. Beyond the terrace stretches an endless expanse of cork oaks, with a ribbon of blue ocean on the horizon. “The line of the sea, the trees, nothing, no vibration. It’s really very rare,” he says.
But the middle of nowhere? Perhaps, but that’s precisely the point. Starck knows this region intimately. He lives just five minutes away and spent years exploring the surrounding countryside by bicycle and quad bike before becoming involved in the project.
Spread across more than 85 hectares, ASerra is a collaboration between Starck, French developer Larfa Properties, and Lisbon-based architecture studio Atelier AAVV. The project comprises 22 private villas and a boutique hotel with 25 spacious suites, with interiors designed by Starck. Owners and hotel guests will share access to restaurants, a spa, and a host of other facilities, including a village devoted to art, creativity, and communal life. The hotel is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2028.
Looking at an architectural model of ASerra—a reddish-brown wooden tableau dotted with miniature trees and barely discernible villas—Starck explains his approach: “The way to treat this project was to respect the nature, to make something quite invisible.”
He has little patience for the white concrete boxes that have sprung up elsewhere in the region. The centuries-old cork oaks are protected by Portuguese law, so the architects had to design around them, adapting the villas to the natural contours of the hillside. It took two years to perfect the earthy shade of concrete used for the low-slung buildings. The project is also aiming for BREEAM Excellent and ILFI Zero Carbon certification.
The model suite offers a preview of Starck’s vision, combining natural materials with unexpected touches of color and pattern, creating an atmosphere of playful tranquillity. Bespoke furniture, designed by Starck and made in Portugal, includes generously padded headboards upholstered in caramel-colored leather. For Starck, these are materials meant to improve with age, acquiring a richer patina over time. “What you see, this is forever,” he says.
In short, all the comforts of home, with nothing overlooked: a cashmere throw draped across the bed, a row of books above it, a comfortable reading chair, a discreet desk behind the bed, and a small dining nook with wicker chairs and a round wooden table, set for breakfast or afternoon tea. In the bath, three rectangular basins are carved into a single slab of rough-hewn limestone, illuminated by dark glazed ceramic pendant lamps made by a local artisan. The walls are lined with terracotta tiles designed by his daughter Ara Starck, with sculpted reliefs inspired by nature.
Outside, a shaded terrace opens onto a private pool and a small fountain. An oversized daybed combines orange, black and white checks, rust-coloured tartan and cushions in competing geometric patterns—an improbable mix that somehow works. For all the exuberance, the prevailing mood is one of quiet seclusion.
More than a collection of private villas and hotel suites, the project revolves around a village raised on stilts, with wooden walkways winding through the trees, where residents and hotel guests can gather for a meal (all-organic and locally sourced, of course) or try their hand at pottery and painting. The spa will occupy two glass-and-wood pavilions, with an interior garden and treatment cabins. And unlike the beachfront developments that have sprung up along this stretch of coast, ASerra is deliberately set back in the forest. Yet the Atlantic is only ten minutes away, with a long sweep of sandy beach accessible by shuttle.
Ultimately, Starck’s ambition is to connect people. He’s even invented a story for ASerra: a family wandering in the aftermath of a worldwide catastrophe discovers the empty house of a writer and musician, with poetry and musical scores embedded in bronze in the walls and floors. A message leads them to the village, where people are cooking, singing and playing guitar. “We can stop,” the man tells his family. “That’s exactly what I felt when I arrived here,” Starck says. “I was everywhere all my life, but for the first time, I feel the roots coming from my shoes into the soil—I am home.”