Based on the local logic of opposition and contrasts, the facade of the adjacent building facing Rua da Ribeira Nova is restored, which will now receive the spaces for coffee/restaurant, multipurpose room and distribution atrium.

Over this “base”, with a heavy and massive character with a “filled” Past, a new volume, made of glass, light and mirrored, of immaterial character, reflects Lisbon, the Present and the Future and assumes the ideal of oppositions present in the project. This volume, which will welcome the formation rooms, is a “body”, clear, fluid and crystalline, that “sometimes it is seen, sometimes it evaporates”, and also embodies a reference to the water element that is at the origin of the collective memory of that place and the Baths of São Paulo.

In the coverage of this volume, a wide living space is projected, a belvedere facing the Dom Luís Garden and the Tejo River, exploring the privileged views of this place and, in a way, opening the Order of Architects to the public, in a democratic and clear way, enabling the enjoyment of this space to the passer-by, the tourist, the citizen.

Finally, “floating” over the “body of glass”, almost in unbalance, a new volume is presented, called the “Black Box”. This element allows, urbanly, to finish the drawer and to give it the appropriate scale and proportion. However, it is assumed as an essential part of the solution: it is an open and unfinished space, a “Black Box”, a unique space, destined for the ever new and disruptive use by OA member architects, either for the realization of installations, art exhibits, or even for the promotion of architectural and urbanistic actions to the visitors of the panoramic terrace.

LX GARDENS SODRÉ presents itself as a project whose spaces are transformed into a concept, a new way of being and living, where the city is connected to the river, the house joins the city, the residents to the visitors, where the interior expands to the outside, considering that the dwelling is not only restricted to the private space of the house but also extends to collective life.  

In a total of 20 flats in the building to the north, and 52 in the building to the south, we propose interiors that combine tradition with contemporaneity, adapted to the needs of the young public that has settled in the area and the more recent corporate environment. These will be versatile flats which, not forgetting the heterogeneity of desires that make up the city, have the chance to be transformed into larger living spaces, or work and workshop spaces, easily adaptable. 

The freedom of use and the flexibility proposed are essential factors in the quality of life and the same is projected for the public space – a sheltered and private square, with a path and free uses at street level and with passages along a structure implanted there that not only allows spaces to be at higher levels, but also several other programmatic uses that give it even more sense: art exhibitions, outdoor projections and other occasional events that are not intended to be fixed. 

The patio is thus transformed into a place of paths – in the large corridor of the “house” – and, at the same time, of stays – in the large living room, hall or library – involved in vegetation that reinterprets the concept of the garden and treats, in a particular way, the gables of adjacent buildings. 

As a place of surprise and well-being, of nature, of the collective and individual experience, of creative, informal and innovative environment, it is believed that LX GARDENS can become a completely different pole, local and international, capable of generating new interests and, given the potential of identity and brand, replicated by other areas of the city. 

More than a construction project, a new lifestyle is proposed for a new inhabited city.