(01) — The studio
Lisbon — Copenhagen — Since 2009
Fourteen architects, interior designers and makers working between two cities. We take on a few projects a year and draw every one of them ourselves, from the first site walk to the last door handle.
The Lisbon studio, Rua das Flores
Fig. 01
(02)
Approach
01
Light first
Before we draw a wall we spend a day on the site watching the sun move. Plans follow the light, not the other way round, so rooms get the hour of the day they are used in.
02
Local materials
Stone from the nearest quarry, timber from the nearest forest, lime from the nearest kiln. Materials that belong to a place weather well there and can be repaired by the people who live nearby.
03
Fewer, better projects
We take on six to eight commissions a year. That keeps a partner on every project from brief to handover and leaves time to get the small things right.
(03) — Team
4 partners — 14 in the studio
Inês Varela
Founding partner, architect
Mads Holt
Partner, interiors
Noor Haddad
Associate, restoration
Clara Mendes
Landscape architect
(04) — In numbers
Years in practice
Buildings completed
Projects a year, at most
Materials sourced within 300 km
(05) — Work with us
We start every project with a site visit and a conversation, not a fee proposal. Tell us where it is and what it needs to do.
Start a project
→