(Journal) Essays, process notes and materials
Journal
Notes from the drawing table: how we test light, choose materials and look after old buildings.
Process
Why we test every building with a card model and the sun
Software can simulate daylight to the lux. We still carry white card models into the garden at four in the afternoon. Here is why.
7 min read
Materials
Lime, not paint: the case for breathable walls
Old Portuguese houses stayed healthy for centuries without a single tin of acrylic. Our restoration lead on why we went back to lime.
6 min read
Process
The section comes first
Plans organise a building. Sections give it a soul. Why our design reviews always start with a cut through the middle.
5 min read
Studio
Lisbon’s terracotta horizon
Where our one accent colour comes from: the clay roofs, oxide doors and late sun of the city we work in.
4 min read
Studio
Paper models and the courage to throw them away
Our model shelf holds forty versions of the same library. Thirty-nine of them were wrong, and that is exactly the point.
5 min read