Saudade Residence - Futuristic Ultra Luxury Ocean Zen Retreat - Award Winning

Every moment spent within this space feels like time stands still. It’s as though the world around you fades and your mind is transported to a state of tranquillity. Your natural rhythm slows, and a serene, mesmerizing calmness envelops you—one that’s almost transcendent.

The Saudade residence is more than a residence—it is a philosophy of joyful reminiscence and longing. A sanctuary designed to take you back to the essence of what it truly feels like to arrive home. A metaphysical, cinematic zen retreat, sculpted around the breathtaking landscape that surrounds it.

Perched in the small township of Ribeira Brava, the hinterland of Madeira’s southern coastline, the Saudade retreat offers a stunning view of volcanic hillsides to the north and dramatic, endless seas to the south. The location is a celebration of nature’s extremes, where the lush green mountains collide with the untamed Atlantic Ocean.

Saudade is an invitation to live differently, to immerse yourself in rustic outfields whilst embracing the cutting-edge technology of tomorrow. Every design decision speaks to a harmonious balance between health, wellbeing, and the future, powered by the latest innovations to create an autonomous, fully connected living environment.

Each space is an emotional journey, a set of experiments tailored to heighten your senses, inviting you into a perpetual dreamscape. An interplay of color, texture, and light evokes a sense of timelessness. You’ll find yourself lost in the serenity of the surroundings, as the house blurs the lines between inside and outside.

Designed to be lived simply, yet engineered with incredible complexity, Saudade transforms at the touch of a button. Every room, every corner can be adjusted to suit your mood, through a series of calibrated modes, for example reading, meditation, entertainment, dining or party. Light, sound, water features, ambient conditions and mechanical movement recalibrate to craft highly curated moments, seamlessly transitioning between your experiences and relationship with the home’s spaces.
These transformative experiences are activated through wall touch panels, voice or on any device.

At the core of this dwelling is a futuristic concept centred around a mirrored façade that reflects the world around it, disappearing into the wild, yet standing tall as an architectural art installation that serves as a focal point. It is suggestive and forces the family to integrate their daily lives into an environment built for meditation, reflection, purpose and mindfulness.

Each of the home’s levels bring distinct emotions, each offering a direct connection to the dramatic scenery. From the raw, exposed lower level that welcomes in the elements and sweeping ocean views, to the garden level inspired by Madeira’s volcanic legacy with moody, earthy tones. The highest level perches above it all, an encapsulated haven of light leaks and an in-room Roman spa to soak it all in.

Entering the house through the majestic façade, whether through the hidden lift or descending the stone staircase through keyless Face ID entry, you are greeted by a glimpse of the space that awaits as the house is built inclined downwards on various levels, every space a step up or a few steps down. There sits a 25-year-old olive bonsai tree breaking up the ocean view from the moment you enter. It serves as an oracle from which to then connect and also bring a social connectivity from the lounge to the rear to the dining and kitchen, and living space we're in now.

The contemporary material palette is rich and varied, with warm greys, textured wood, and black pigmented concrete giving each space depth and character. Yet, it’s not the materials themselves, but the way light flows across them that gives the house its soul—creating an immersive, almost poetic atmosphere.

Over 3,000 square meters of stone tiling pays homage to the ideals of the Renaissance past, blending history with modernity. The elegant play of shadows contrasts the dark interiors, drawing focus outward towards the endless horizon of sea and sky.

The site is surrounded by sacred UNESCO heritage geoparks, mountains and waterfalls. Saudade lies minutes from white sandy beaches, golf courses, and the island’s capital, Funchal. Breathtakingly quiet, you are greeted only by the distant sound of birds each time you return home, the ever-present rhythm of the sea, and the whispering of the wind through neighbouring banana and cane plantations.

As day fades to night, the house transforms, bathed in the mesmerizing glow of projected lights over the heated jacuzzi, mimicking the local finches that dance through the air in a murmuration. It’s a sensory experience designed to capture the essence of Madeira’s natural beauty, and the art of living in harmony with the land. Moody luminosity is at the centre of this home that transforms into a shining beacon in the dark.

At its heart, Saudade respects the island's history, learning from the past and embracing the future, as it understands how people have lived on this island. However, it is also very conscious that it is a foreigner, an outsider, and it is asking for permission to rest on this hillside for a period of time.

Over 90% sustainable, the home harnesses solar energy for its extensive system and automation, spring water for irrigating its permaculture, fruit orchard and herb gardens, and cutting-edge technology to reduce its environmental footprint while offering luxurious living with minimal environmental impact using its rain, sun and light sensors used by the AI to recalibrate its daily operational efficiency.

There is a notion of cultivated landscape in this otherwise wild context that we live in, amongst a palm forest and wild grass, with its own private plantation that grows over 150 species of exotic fruits, vegetables, salads and herbs, all watered with precision engineered systems using spring water from the mountains that runs into the house through an exposed flowing stream. This creates a beautiful sound of ever-running water every time you step outside or return home.

The extensive use of glass throughout the house frames the surrounding nature like living portraits. Every corner and facade glides, while the structural pillars allow the walls to melt away, offering uninterrupted views of the Atlantic as if the ocean itself has become part of the home’s design. As you wander through each space, you feel an acute sense of the light moving across it, rippling of water from the magnesium spa and infinity pool, the air cascading through the wild grass, and you begin to sense a metaphysical connection where it is almost as if there are no longer any walls.

Every detail, is considered, where space has a purpose and nothing is wasted. From the architecture that brings nature indoors, the white sand beach lounge with a smokeless firepit, outdoor fireplace, feet dipping lounge, pet pool, dining under the moss canopy and BBQ lounge, to the reflective surfaces that capture the changing light throughout the day, Saudade is a living, breathing space that shifts and evolves as the light changes.

As night falls, the home comes alive: ambient lighting, shadow play, water ripples and the soft glow from the façade transform it into something entirely new. Saudade feels both intimate and expansive, a space where beauty and calmness reign.

At the heart of the living space, a sky void reveals the moonlight, illuminating a library filled with iconic books, historical artifacts, and moments of human achievement. It is a space that invites reflection and wonder, just like the home itself.

The homestead is furnished with a carefully curated selection of sustainable, vegan products and luxury fittings from around the world, that augment the entire experience.

With private plantation gardens, advanced sustainability features, and a design that feels both foreign and familiar, Saudade is a masterpiece that redefines modern living in Madeira. A poetic balance of innovation and history.

Key Features:
Gym;
Library;
Horticulture Food Garden;
Herb Garden;
Fruit Orchard;
Ancestral Ceremonial & Yoga Lounge;
Outdoor Cinema;
Beach Lounge + Smokeless Firepit;
Wood Firepit;
Roman spa bath;
Full Home Automation;
Keyless Face ID access;
Rain, Wind, Sun sensors - House automatically responds to weather;
Robot lawn mowers;
Robot pool cleaners;
Apple sound systems;
Natural levada and sensor activated water fountains;
Calibrated home modes for easy use like meditation, reading, entertainment, dining and party mode to set the scenes;
Automated facade panels that move;
Automated curtain systems;
Ambient mood lighting;
Palm garden;
Fully controllable on iPad;
Magnesium spa infinity pool;
Heated jacuzzi;
Security systems;
Home safety Monitors;
Rain showers and all rooms ensuite;
Privacy switchable electric glass;
Integrated room air conditioning systems and climate controlled homes;
Aroma control machines;
Photovoltaic solar energy generation of 30KW a day;
Heat pumps for hot water 300L;
Siemens connected appliances;
Special edition wines and alcohol included;
Fully equipped kitchen and home, furnished with high end inventory from Scandinavia.