Lets keep the image of the mountain

„a natural tranquillity for the human sensory“

with Stephan Adelbrecht - Architekturbüro Adelbrecht, München

A young family left south London to explore the sustainable and nature connected spaces of Europe. In central Portugal, they discovered a picturesque moun-

tain village named Amieira. The family member named Moses, whose nose had 300 million receptors, showed them around an old abandoned farm in the remo-

te forested foothills of the Serra da Estrela mountains. Today the ruins have become the vale de Moses yoga retreat. Using local materials to remain the soul of the spa-

ce, the family has reinvented the ruins of the farm to a welcoming home for people and animals in central Portugal. The mountain community of Oleiros has a culture of

self-sufficiency and landscape identity. It is not a big tourist destination and thousands of people have left the area so that today‘s nature is almost untouched.

In times of the modern machine, we seek to connect through nature with ourselves. We think that the untouched nature of vale de Moses is to remain by all costs.

Not only because it is scientifically proven that vegetation expresses a natural tranquillity, but also because people will need a future to experience the untouched nature.

If we build the all over the vale de Moses area, in near future the mountain will lose its impression of „the mountain“. You can not compete with nature, is not just our de-

sign philosophy but also the current and future potential of the yoga retreat. We decided to embed the yoga cabin in nature to remain the impression of the mountain.