House on a Mine | Antonio Costa Lima Architects | Lisbon, Portugal

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Modern residential house with a stylish pool on the street, innovative architectural design and urban aesthetics. Perfect for luxurious living and modern architectural art

Dialogue between heritage and contemporary design

The House on a Mine by Antonio Costa Lima Architects reinterprets the dialogue between old and new within the historical urban development of Lisbon. This sensitive renovation project preserves the essence of traditional housing while introducing a modern structural extension that improves lighting, space and the connection of the house with the surrounding garden and views.

Balancing architectural heritage and contemporary intervention, the project reflects a harmonious coexistence of time periods – an elegant choreography between preservation and transformation.

Preserving identity, enhancing experience

The renovation begins with respect for defining elements of the original housing. The main facade and gable roof, characteristic of semi-detached houses in Lisbon, were carefully preserved and restored, respecting the urban identity of the building.

Beneath this preserved shell a new architectural vocabulary emerges. The steel and glass structure extends the house towards the garden, allowing natural light to flow through while creating smooth transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces. This 'mine' structure, as the architects describe it, functions like a framework and filter – expanding the functionality of the house while maintaining visual continuity with the past.

Concept of two architectural moments

The center of the project lies in the contrast between two architectural moments:

The existing structure – refreshed, preserved and celebrated for its originality.
The contemporary addition – expressive and transparent, bringing lightness and opening the house to the landscape.

This duality underscores the conceptual strength of the project. The structural framework of the extension defines new outdoor spaces – balconies, terraces and visual corridors that reimagine traditional relationships between house, garden and urban landscape.

Creating continuity through material and light

Inside, the renovation retains most of the existing spatial organization and finishes, carefully updated to meet modern living standards. The restored wooden floor, plastered walls and ceiling details maintain the feeling of home comfort, while large windows in the extension fill interiors with natural light.

The material palette — steel, glass and warm plaster finishes — connects the gap between historical durability and contemporary openness. This balanced combination gives House on a Mine poetic equilibrium: rooted in history but striving toward the future.

Modern framework for Lisbon's architectural heritage

Preserving key historical elements while introducing a bold structural accent, House on a Mine becomes an example of adaptive reuse. It demonstrates how contemporary architecture can thoughtfully interact with heritage—not through imitation, but through contrast and dialogue.

Through an extension inspired by mines, Antonio Costa Lima Architects propose a meaningful reimagining of Lisbon's domestic architecture, proving that innovation and preservation can coexist within the same framework.