Spaceship House in Coastal Portugal Lands on the Market

The recently constructed, sci-fi-inspired home, located in the coastal region of Algarve, is on sale for $9 million

Inspired by sci-fi flicks, a high-tech spaceship-shaped house that “landed” by the beach in Portugal’s Algarve region has just come on the market for €9 million (US$9.75 million). Sky Base One, completed in 2023, is being sold by Spy Manor, a film production company and real estate developer in Ferragudo, Portugal, which built it on spec with the intent to use it for filming before selling.

The futuristic mansion “draws inspiration from the legendary sci-fi films,” said a spokesperson for Spy Manor. “Conceived as a haven for science-fiction enthusiasts seeking solace, Sky Base One seamlessly combines comfort, innovation and safety amidst the breathtaking scenery of the Algarve.”

Architect Alexandre Mendes of the Portuguese-based firm Bespoke Architects designed the exterior and interiors of the two-level house, set on a narrow plot of nearly three-quarters of an acre. The home is an immersive environment, said Carl Gambino of Compass, who listed it in mid-June. “It’s a landmark of the Portuguese southern Atlantic coast,” he added.

With an entry that looks like a futuristic pod, the lavish house was constructed amid a boom in luxury housing demand in the Algarve region, particularly from foreign buyers. The region logged a 25% year-over-year spike in home sales in the first quarter of this year, according to a report from London-based real estate agency Savills in June. Luxury home prices were up more than 30% in the first quarter compared to the year prior, it said.  The pool extends the house into the scenery.

Surrounded by traditional and modern residences, the 6,700-square-foot house is an alien presence in the tranquil and tiny cliffside beach town of Carvoeiro, where red-tile roofs and traditional white stucco architecture are the prevailing aesthetic.

It has five bedrooms and seven baths and features a curved entry court that looks like a pod and a glass wall facing the terrace that moves down automatically, disappearing underground to merge indoor and outdoor spaces and opening the entire structure to allow natural physical distancing. Other space-age attributes include futuristic LED lighting and a home-automation system. The air-pressure elevator, a conical gilded cage, is meant to evoke the ‘Star Trek’ transporters of ‘Beam me up, Scotty!’ fame, and a mammoth skylight provides a private eye to the constellations.

The Algarve coast, Portugal’s southernmost region, is where beaches and golf resorts abound—and Sky Base One’s location near the sea captures the scenery. Sky Base One also has a swimming pool and a temperature-controlled cellar that stores enough bottles to keep residents toasting their new home for months.

“It’s incredibly exciting for us to take a world of fiction and bring it to reality,” the Spy Manor spokesperson said. “Each of us is a storyteller. And everything we do and often possess in life continues telling a story about ourselves. We believe there are other film fans out there who’ve been dreaming to live in a house of their favorite film. Sky Base One is a testament that dreams do come to reality.”