Utopia Architects

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Utopia Architects

Utopia is a design firm providing architectural services, town planning, furniture design and engineering. Our architects are inspired by your new project.

You can find here information about our history, team, philosophy, portfolio and contacts. We had a long and sustainable growth. We started as a local architecture practice, and step by step, we gain clients on more cities and became a national company. Naturally, some international commissions appeared and we kept our work philosophy of listening, thinking and solving our clients objectives. Our

team includes civil engineers, architects, technicians, working in straight cooperation. You can contact our offices in Portugal to develop a project anywhere. Our portfolio has works in Spain, France, United Kingdom, Norway, Angola, Mozambique and Brazil.

27/03/2019

Building renovation in Porto offers immense opportunities for the tourism sector. But along with these conditions also arise the challenges. The destination can not be massified and as such it is fundamental to maintain the identity of the buildings and the architecture of the city along with a new level of quality in the tourist offer of the new hotels, hostels and local accommodations. This project of the architects of Utopia embodies this concept. The hotel unit can not grow too much and lose the relationship of proximity with the customer and the service of high value. The Architecture Project The architectural project of these two buildings (located on Avenida da Boavista near the House of Music) sought to recover as much as possible from existing buildings. However, from a technical point of view, it was a total reconstruction in order to give the hotel the highest thermal efficiency possible. The new wing contains a contemporary design but with classic and interior references with the same strategy. All spaces privilege the white favoring the luminosity and amplitude of the spaces. The furniture was all designed by the architects of Utopia in wood and exclusively for the spaces. For enter the minimalism there are thus the perfect conditions to relax and enjoy the urban quality of the city of Porto. Guest House and Hostel The design of this new tourist establishment by the architects of Utopia was based on the creation of a flexible unit in use, with maximum quality in balance with profitability and the identity of the property that was intended to rehabilitate. Located in the area of Boavista, next to the House of Music, the investment consists of the rehabilitation of a historic building and its extension with a new wing. The interior is minimalist, allowing you to direct the investment to the market with a taste of the Nordic type. Tourism Investment Tourism investment had to be balanced both at the level of services provided and at the level of initial investment. But this did not prevent the strict and exclusive design of all the interior and furnishings for the Hotel. Including events in common courtyards and restaurants was also one of the strategies adopted. The courtyards thus had an illumination and drawing care in detail by the architects. More information at:
http://www.utopia-projects.com

17/09/2016

Rural tourism is a unique opportunity for the architecture to be reunited with environmental sustainability, landscape and the Portuguese cultural heritage. In this sense, designing a rural hotel is a big responsibility since we have to protect the natural landscape and the rural spirit of the place. An hotel in the countryside must therefore have maximum comfort and should also allow a close relationship with the agricultural environment and outdoor activities. It should, in essence, be an experience in nature and a perfect alternative to urbanity and pollution.

The Arsdurium Rural Hotel is a perfect example of this concept. Situated on the left bank of the Douro river, the space reflects the whole culture of the region and adopts the most demanding criteria for environmental sustainability. On the one hand it makes up the rehabilitation and conversion of an old building providing it with a new elegance and leadership over the Bestança valley. On the other hand the hotel expands its capacity of accommodation with a new modern building, opened and integrated into the landscape. A disguised indoor pool bellow the terraces guarantees fun and comfort in the colder winter months.

Environmental sustainability is the key element in this symbiosis of refinement and rurality. The project adopts strong ecological concerns since we can found the rehabilitation of an ancient building, passive solar techniques, recycling of local materials like granite and slate, and takes up the maximum thermal efficiency. The new building was planned with enormous autonomy since it has photo-voltaic solar energy, water reuse and maximum control consumption with efficient equipments.
In the end, modernity becomes linked forever with Portuguese tradition in the beautiful l Douro Valley.

More info here: http://www.utopia-projects.com/works/hotel-in-douro/

06/08/2016

It's always a big responsibility to design an office or a working space since we are talking about preparing the productivity and satisfaction of those who work for a company or institution.
As a result of the acquisition of the Portuguese startup Blip by the British multinational Betfair a new even more ambitious growing process has begun. Our architects were commissioned to design the new offices where all the coding and programming tasks take place within maximum comfort and productivity for the 300 workers. Besides this requirements we had to finish the building work under 3 months and still maintain a low budget. And so we did. Most part of the 1500 m2 of interior surface is occupied by social, playing or relaxing spaces. An important part of the area is also used for learning and experimenting activities on the lab and only a small part is used for the programming daily work. The results of this "Silicon Valley" approach appeared immediately and the company was considered one of the best top 4 companies to work in Portugal.

More information at:
http://www.utopia-projects.com/

14/05/2016

What is luxury in housing?
The theme of the highest quality is always something that fascinates us. The debate on the luxury is something we permanently take into accout on every project. Designing a house will always have the objective of maximum quality, and in that sense the luxury will always come up as a topic of debate.

How we design this modern and contemporary house...
Recently, we received an order to design a dwelling in the parish of the magdalene, Vila Nova De Gaia, in a beach near the sea. The house itself has a strategy of modern and contemporary design. It has a single floor and is organised with an L shaped form that embraces a coutyard over-looking the sea with a protected swiming-pool. There are more two courtyards for services and car entrance.
The kitchen is an integrated area in the dining and living room. The house can stay all closed with rolls or wide open to enjoy the views of the beach and the portuguese sunny days.

The relationship between luxury and construction cost...
It is also common to hear that the cost to the square metre is crucial for a dream house or luxury house. As architects, we just do not believe in that. What is crucial in order to achieve a high level on the construction is simply the quality of the architecture project, the dialogue with the client and the accuracy of the builder.
So, it will be clear to all that a quality house has thermal and acoustic comfort in pair with perfect functionality.
But we need to add that if we can enjoy the scenery, the smell of the ocean, the simplicity of a clean environment, let's face it, this house is definitely an example of a luxury house...

Also available in Portuguese here:
http://arquitectura-utopia.blogspot.pt/2016/05/casa-de-luxo-em-gaia.html

03/04/2016

We had to renovate and enlarge a very small and traditional house in Portugal. This house was located on the north of the country in a town called Valongo on the ouskirts of Oporto. The región is known for it’s granite rocks and the old house was no exception.

Our strategy was based on keeping the granite walls and improving thermal specifications on the interior of the old construction. So we restored the exterior of the old house. The enlargement is made by one glass volume that represents the entrance and connects the old and the new. The new volume is the archetype of the house. It is in fact the symbol of the word "home". We wanted to keep it abstract and we used the same finish on the walls and roof. The house has the minimal spaces necessary for a contemporary family.

On the new volume we placed de living, dining and kitchen. On the old house we have two bedrooms and bathrooms.

This project will always be something like a reference to the symbolic meaning of home. It is also ironic to the modern 20th century. It is small and surreal and keeps reminding us why kids draw houses the way they do, why house pictograms appear the way they do and even your browser homepage button... We can say that this fact is permanent in every culture or historical date.
This project is therefore a manifest showing that this iconic aproach can and should complete the idea of modernity or contemporaneity.

25/01/2016

Elementary School in Portugal

The architectural design
Recently we had the extraordinary opportunity to design and license a school in Porto, Portugal. The most important was to plan the growth of a nursery (age 1 to 2) and kindergarten (age 3 to 5) and its expansion to house the primary school (age 6 to 10) .
From the architectural point of view, we had to merge two single-family homes and enlarge the building with a new volume. Therefore, we renovated some of the buildings and built from scratch another part. Obviously, it was also essential to give coherence to the set that was the result of different volumes. We also had to redesign the garden and ensure that it was present in all school spaces. At the same time, the school had to take into account strict financial costs in order to ensure the future sustainability of this private investment.

The challenge of designing for children
This was possibly one of the greatest challenges that we as architects have ever had. But the biggest challenge came not from technical, architectural , regulatory or economic constraints. The biggest challenge came from the fact that we thought we had the duty to draw for children.
Those who educate or teach , or live with children know that this topic is crucial and a never ending task. Then, we asked: how to draw for kids?

Drawing is like writting for children ...
José Saramago when talking about his book called "The biggest flower in the world " lamented failing to write children's stories since " children's stories should be written in very simple words, because children are small and only know a few words and do not like to use them very complicated ". Mia Couto, on the subject of his book "Cat and the Dark" says he does not write for children but rather " for the child in each of us ." Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen talked about their work for children saying she only started writing children' stories because their sons " had measles and had to be quiet ." She added that she was " irritated by the stories she read " and went on to create other ones" from facts and places " of her childhood. Honestly, this school turns out to be drawn with multiple approaches but with many of these questions and answers in mind.

An architecture for children
We therefore thinked about children drawings and the symbolism of the concept of school or home that they share with us always. In reality, despite our modernity , children continue to draw or paint roofs like triangles near trees and flowers.
That was it! We had to draw houses! We had to design a whole neighborhood of them if need! Moreover, the school was called: Cuckoo House!

A house to learn
In the end, the school is just a house where you learn. But we had to draw this house as children draw, in a simple, elegant, rigorous and accurate trace. A trait that sometimes contains up some minimalism. Yes, it was this modernity we wanted. And the garden had to enter all the classrooms! How wonderful would it be to be able to learn inside a classroom that reminds us a child drawing with a simple roof! And the windows had to be the height of children and not the gigantic height of the adults! This had to be the new architecture for children.

The project follows the concept naturally
There are times when we architects realize that the direction is correct. Then the design flows naturally. And that's what happened here. When we solidified the concept, the model , plants, elevations , materials and colors are only the reflection of this concept of architecture for children. In the end, the school appears to us as if composed of different moments, old and new, that generate an overall coherence. We can therefore say this is a school made of modernity and tradition as the paradigm of the perfect school.

An image or a thousand words ...
But it's best to view the images, for as Saint- Exupéry wrote in the Little Prince : " The grown people always need explanations ... they never understand anything by themselves and it is stressful for children giving explanations all the time."

02/01/2016

A sloping site overlooking a green valley in Portugal was the site were we, architects, had to design and build a modern ecological dwelling but with same detail used on a luxury home. This sutainable house protects itself from the street by walls and garage and throws itself in the air to the valley with their bedrooms and living. A patio accommodates some activities more reserved like the kitchen and the access to the upper garden. A modern architecture house with a green roof and environmental concerns rises from the ground and watches the valley landscape…

P.S.: This house is located in a town called "Santa Maria da Feira", also known by the indie song with the same name from Devendra Banhart.

24/11/2015

A contemporary architecture project that mixes tradition, modernity and an ecological aproach.

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http://www.utopia-projects.com/

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