Architects practice in Portugal
Created in 2002 with headquarters in Oporto, Utopia is a design firm with architectural services, town planning, furniture design and engineering. It is innovative because it coordinates all the experts involved in your project, reducing all your worries. The team includes architects, engineers, landscape architects and designers that work in straight cooperation. We develop several services, namely, projects of root, conversions, enlargements and interior decorations. Therefore, we develop all the programs, including dwelling, commerce, service and industry. We are always interested in a new challenge.
We are always willing to accept your new challenge.
Susana Barros Vilela, architect
Our History
Our engineering and architecture practice has more than a decade of completed works and projects. Along this path, we had the mission to focus on the client and everything else as followed. In fact, our clients trust as increased in each project and new commissions have always arrived from same clients and new ones, as the result of knowing how we work and what we achieved. Our publications and conferences are also an opportunity to show that history of works that inspires us to continue.
Architectural Practice Philosophy
Our working philosophy is based on the importance we give to our clients objectives and available budget. At the same time we make a clear analysis of all legal aspects involving your project, in order to produce perfect solutions aesthetically and functionally. We also carefully select all solutions accordingly to each case, sometimes modern architecture and in other cases traditional construction solutions. We work with a clear philosophy: to hear, to think and to solve.
Team of architects
You can meet here our team of architects and engineers in Portugal and how we work. Our priority goes to a project management made by architects, since it’s the only process that allows for a precise work of each engineer and guarantees a final result where engineering and architecture are completely united. This also reduces all of our clients logistics and worries. Our team of professionals have a large experience thus proving the maximum quality and support to our projects. You can also understand here the role and tasks of each technician.
International
Working globally is very important for us. We consider it a permanent challenge and we look at each country as a coumpund of oportunities allowing us to show our competitiveness and know-how. Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Spain, Brazil, Algeria, Norway are markets where we have worked and where we hope to grow even more.
Innovation
Innovation is a theme we take seriously. We look at innovation not as an academic process closed inside university wall but as a dynamic intervention that occurs every day and can be transformed in a better service to our clients and community. Actually, we try to question permanently our work and the technical specifications we produce for each construction. We give some themes more importance than other as a result of the contemporary problems our society faces. We therefore underline the energy efficiency, improving the thermal behaviour of buildings and reducing energy consumption, turning energy costs lower. At the same time we should refer our concern in fighting for faster construction methods with superior quality and safety. And we should also not forget our work with alternative construction methods with lower costs like the case of light steel frame.
Social Responsibility
Our firms social consciousness is something we search to develop at an every day basis according to our own resources. This means we apply social responsibility on each architecture project we design.
As an example we can look at our vision for sustainable architecture. An environmental friendly architecture with ecological concerns is something that evolves every day and can be achieved in different ways. Our ecological footprint is the result of the construction stage and the life and maintenance of a building.
At the same time we fight for an inclusive architecture accessible to everyone. This is a never ending fight we accept with pride.
Frequent asked questions on our practice
You can also read here some important answers that we provide on our design practice. Themes such as sustainable architecture, best construction methods, costs and contractors.
Yes, an architect in our office can explain to you for a particular location what is the best construction process to protect the environment.
Our architecture studio has at its disposal architects, landscape architects, engineers, designers, surveyors, maquetists and plastic artists.
No. We believe that architectural and engineering services have such a high deontological component that it is incompatible with other interests such as construction. Designing and building are distinct things with distinct interests. We defend our clients with design and supervision. In society there are similar situations that should not be confused and that represent conflicts prescribing and selling medicines, legislating and defending constituents, etc.
Yes, the architects at Utopia develop an execution project. With these specifications it is possible to make a competitive bidding with a selected group of builders and thus choose the cheapest one.
Yes. As you may see on our portfolio you can find there we develop all kind of projects. As one of the leading chartered architectural firms in Portugal, the team at Utopia Architects provide professional design & consultancy for any commercial, industrial and residential projects. With over twelve years experience as an architectural practice, Utopia Architects Practice provide a highly professional project & planning management service, from concept to completion.