For the last few years, urban regeneration has become one of the most important themes among Aurora Arquitectos’ work. Led by Sofia Couto and Sérgio Antunes, one specific “question” was enough to define which path should the project follow, that would end up answering this sentence: “what is Pombalino today?”. The Lisbon-based studio took on the project of reconverting an old leather tannery workshop, without compromising its original identity, which allowed for the creation of three independent apartments.

The maintenance of the pre-modern logic of circulation between rooms, “without any corridors or small distribution spaces”, was one of the main concerns of the studio, that wanted not only to adapt the intervention to the existing partitioning but also to avoid the need of demolitions, so that the integrity was preserved.

“This use aggressiveness (while it was a leather tannery workshop) destroyed its character and the features of the pombalino architectonic imaginary were lost”, explained Aurora studio, what lead to the reinvention of the pombalino interior’s architecture, by enhancing some of its main features - sparsely decorated spaces, modular use of the constructive elements, and the use of windows and doors as the main elements of the architectonic characterization.