arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence

arquitectura-G, limited by exterior regulations, hollowed out the interior and inserted a new blue concrete structure inside.

thomai tsimpou October 2, 2025 3 min

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Arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core in Portuguese house

In Sintra, Portugal, Arquitectura-G completes House II, the latest intervention within a long-abandoned quinta de recreio, a rural estate historically devoted to agriculture and leisure. The project forms part of an ongoing sequence of works by the studio’s team, which seeks to conserve and rehabilitate the site’s buildings and reactivate the broader territory.

Strict regulations limited any change to the building’s external profile, facades, or roof, so Arquitectura-G responded by hollowing out the existing interior, retaining only the perimeter walls, and inserting a new structural body of blue-pigmented concrete. Rising from the basement cellar, this inserted core incorporates a helical staircase and extends upward to form the slabs of the upper levels. It culminates beneath a skylight on the first floor, where daylight streams into the central void and organizes the surrounding rooms.

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 1 — the staircase culminates beneath a skylight on the first floor | all images by Maxime Delvaux, unless stated otherwise

historic wine cellar reinterpreted as a self-sufficient dwelling

Envisioned as a self-sufficient landscape of vineyards, orchards, forests, gardens, and livestock, the Barcelona-based team of Arquitectura-G transforms this estate under the principles of permaculture, an approach to design that works with natural ecosystems to create sustainable, regenerative, and resilient ways of living

The building itself, once a hybrid structure combining a wine cellar with living quarters for workers and servants, stood for decades as a fragmented volume of interlinked spaces stitched together by multiple staircases. The architects reinterpret this mixed typology into a single dwelling that preserves the memory of its dual past.

The blue concrete spine organizes the residence. On the ground floor, an open-plan arrangement of kitchen, dining, and living areas gathers around the staircase. Bedrooms occupy the upper level at both ends of the plan, while a secondary lounge occupies the skylit heart of the house, transforming what had been a utilitarian and subdivided structure into a unified domestic space in Portugal.

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 2 — this inserted core incorporates a helical staircase and extends upward to form the slabs of the upper levels

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 3 — daylight streams into the central void and organizes the surrounding rooms

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 4 — Arquitectura-G’s response to the strict regulations

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 5 — the team hollows out the existing interior

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 6 — the blue concrete spine organizes the residence

arquitectura-g-blue-concrete-core-spiraling-staircase-portuguese-residence-designboom-large01 — bedrooms occupy the upper level at both ends of the plan

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 7 — transforming what had been a utilitarian and subdivided structure

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 8 — bathroom marble mirrors the core color of the home in soft blue hues

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 9 — baby blue tones are combined with butter yellow finishes

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 10 — the bathroom becomes a canvas of blue

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence - 11 — Arquitectura-G’s latest intervention within a long-abandoned quinta de recreio

retaining only the perimeter walls | image by Francisco Ascensão Arquitectura-G transforms this estate under the principles of permaculture | image by Francisco Ascensão the building once combined a wine cellar with living quarters for workers and servants | image by Francisco Ascensão the structure stood for decades as a fragmented volume of interlinked spaces | image by Francisco Ascensão a single dwelling that preserves the memory of its dual past | image by Francisco Ascensão basement floor plan | all drawings by arquitectura-G ground floor plan first floor plan section 01 section 02

project info:

name: House II

architect: Arquitectura-G | @arquitecturag

location: Sintra, Portugal

lead designers: Jonathan Arnabat, Jordi Ayala-Bril, Aitor Fuentes, Igor Urdampilleta

project team: João Salsa

structural engineering: Gepectrofa

building services engineering: GPIC / Campo d’Agua / GET / Amplitude Acoustics

project management: Gonçalo Bonniz / gbarquitectos

photographer: Maxime Delvaux | @maxdelv

process photographer: Francisco Ascensão | @francisco.ascensao