For those who are familiar with the projects of Lisbon-based brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, their most recent single-family house in Leiria, in the centre of Portugal, is apparently just another confirmation of their conceptual and minimalistic approach to architecture. But even for those, perfectly aware of their special taste and tendency for white, pure buildings – especially in housing schemes – this project may have a deeper significance in that it has probably reached the limits of a reasonable abstraction and sense of artistic autonomy.