A small studio for calm buildings.

Five people and one long table in Príncipe Real. We design houses, small public buildings and interiors — a few at a time, each drawn by hand before it is built.

Ren Okada in the studio among white study models

The studio table covered in drawings and timber models

The practice

I started the studio in 2012 with one house in the hills above Sintra. Fourteen years later we are still small on purpose — so that every project gets drawn by the same hand, from the first walk on site to the last detail.

We work for families, foundations and cities: people who want a building that will still feel right in forty years. Most of our work is in Portugal; some of it travels.

Each project starts on tracing paper and ends on site. We build models for every stage, and we stay involved until the last door handle is fitted.

Approach

Four things I don’t compromise on.

Site first

I walk every site at dawn, noon and dusk before drawing a line. The place decides more than the brief.

One idea

Each building has one move it cannot lose — a roof, a courtyard, a view. Everything else serves it.

Honest materials

Lime, timber, stone and a little concrete, left to age. Fewer finishes, chosen to last.

Made nearby

Builders and makers from within a day’s drive. It keeps the work careful and the carbon low.

Years in practice

Buildings completed

Awards and citations

People at one table

Recognition

2026

Prémio Secil — Shortlist

Casa Alva

2025

Porto Public Space Award

Tide Pavilion

2025

EU Mies Award — Nominee

Rua Verde Housing

2024

Interiors Prize, Lisbon

Atlas Reading Room

2023

AR House — Commended

Cliff House