— About the Studio
A studio for
considered space.
— Studio Story
Founded on the conviction that architecture should be unhurried.
Studio Defign was founded in Lisbon in 2014 and has since grown into a multidisciplinary practice with completed work in Portugal, Italy, Morocco, Mexico and Indonesia. The studio maintains a small, deliberate team — close enough to draw and build by hand, large enough to deliver buildings of consequence.
We work across architecture, interiors and product, and we treat each commission as a conversation between site, client and material. The output is intentionally varied; the underlying philosophy is not.
— Design Philosophy
Material honesty
We work with materials that age into something better — stone, lime, oak, bronze, linen — and let the building wear its years.
The temperature of light
Daylight is the principal building material. Every plan begins with the orientation of the sun and the texture of the shadow it makes.
The quiet room
A room that whispers is more generous than one that announces. We design for the everyday, not for the photograph.
Place before style
Every project begins with a long conversation with its site. The studio has no signature — it has principles.
"Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent,
of forms assembled in the light."
— Le Corbusier
— Founder
Inês Almeida
Inês founded Studio Defign in 2014 after a decade working between Lisbon, Milan and London. Trained at the FAUP and the AA, she continues to lead every project from sketch to delivery.
Studio
12 people
Completed projects
74 across 4 continents