What do you get when you ask 22 well-known architects to design a golf resort? Something completely different from the costa-del-hacienda look we're used to. Kate McMorrow visits Bom Succeso, a hour north of Lisbon

Siza Vieira, Souto Moura, Chipperfield - if the names stop you in your tracks, then you are probably an architect or have a keen interest in contemporary design.

These celebrated architects make up a team of 22 who were given free artistic rein at Bom Sucesso, a golf resort near the medieval hill town of Óbidos in Portugal, an hour's drive north of Lisbon and five minutes from the long sandy beaches of Portugal's Silver Coast.

Freed from constrictions, the Bom Sucesso architects have produced a variety of cutting-edge designs with a fresh 21st century look. Their clean lines are a zillion miles away from the holiday haciendas of yesteryear.

With phase one sold out, Gunne New Homes Overseas and UK firm Hamptons are today launching the second tranche of villas and townhouses at Bom Sucesso. This is ahead of the UK launch, an indication of the current respect for Irish buyers across Europe.

Over 50 per cent of the villas in the first phase were taken by Portuguese buyers, who were aware of the provenance of the architects involved. British architect David Chipperfield has designed one of the phase two villas.

Prices start at €240,000 for large one and two-bedroom furnished and equipped townhouses, some of which include a guaranteed 5 per cent net rental income for the first two years.

'All properties are freehold and townhouse owners can opt out of the rental arrangement entirely after the 10-year Vat-free period.

Three, four and five-bedroom villas cost from €490,000 to €1 million-plus, depending on plot size and design. These prices exclude Vat at 21%.

Although not part of the rental programme, villa owners can avail of the facilities of the hotel, including cleaning, garden maintenance and room service. Preferential rates and membership of the golf course is another owners' perk.

Partly sunk into the hillside and with grass-covered roofs, the overall impression when established will be of an expanse of green sloping down to a seawater lagoon. A five-star boutique spa hotel surrounded by the 18-hole golf course will ensure a steady rental market.

Lakes will be created and a new boathouse built at the lagoon to co-ordinate a range of water sports.

The site is beginning to take shape, ground services are in place and thousands of old olive trees are growing along the sidewalks. Views will be of the sea, golf course or a camellia garden created on the edge of the pine forest bordering the resort.

A shuttle bus will ferry residents to the beach, where fish caught that morning are served for lunch at the quaint Rio Cortico restaurant.

While there is a lot of interest in the "trophy" villas designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira and other big names, some of the most exciting designs are by younger architects who are beginning to make their name on the international scene.

Notable is a villa by Gonçalo Cardoso de Menezes composed of two low rectangular box structures joined by a glass corridor and with terraces off the bathrooms. Álcino Soutinho's long low structure with double pool is another interesting style.

Perhaps the most innovative is a circular villa, with ceiling portholes viewing a pool, designed by Manuel Graça Dias and Egas José Vieira. Graça Dias lectures in Lisbon University and many of the younger architects studied under him.

The townhouses are anything but mundane - some are shaped like serpents, others have grassed roof terraces at pool level.

A communal pool will be provided for each small group of townhouses, which will also have private gardens.

One-beds start at €245,000, while two-bedroom townhouses cost from €330,000 and three-beds from €385,000.

Owners can expect to move in by the end of 2007 and early 2008.

Everything will be in place by this time and the facilities will be up and running.

Bom Sucesso goes on exhibition at Gunne's Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 offices from tomorrow, March 31st to April 2nd.

The show moves to the Lynch South Court Hotel, Limerick on April 5th and 6th, then to the Gresham Metropole in Cork City on April 7th and 8th.