Architecture & Interior Design // Porto
RAFA Design Hub
The atelier in Porto's historic centre
We build less, better. Architecture begins with subtraction — removing until only what is essential remains.
RAFA Design Hub is an architecture and interior design studio founded on the belief that the spaces we inhabit shape how we live, work, and connect. Every project is a dialogue between the built and the natural, the permanent and the ephemeral.
Specification // Principles
The Way We Think
We approach every project as a dialogue between the built and the natural, the permanent and the ephemeral. Our work is rooted in context — the land, the light, the culture, and the people who will occupy the space. We believe in subtraction — the discipline of removing rather than adding — until only what is essential remains.
Context
The land, the light, the climate, the culture — we design from the site outward, never from a style inward.
Materiality
Honest materials age with the building. Wood patinas, stone weathers, and concrete records its making.
Light
Light is the first material. We shape spaces around its movement across the day and the seasons.
Craft
Every junction, joint, and threshold is a decision. Detailing is not the finish of the design — it is the design.
Clarity
A building should be legible at first glance and reveal more with time. Simplicity is complexity resolved.
Material samples and study models at the work table
The Atelier // Materials
Specification // Team
The People
Specification // Working Methods
Working Methods
Model Making
Every project begins as a physical object. Study models are built early and tested by hand — mass, proportion, and light resolved in three dimensions before they are drawn.
Material Research
A material library is assembled for every project — stone, timber, metal, textiles. Samples are selected by hand, on site, in real light.
Design Review
The studio critiques in the open. Weekly reviews at the model table — every decision defended, tested, or revised.
Site & Construction
Architecture is completed on site, not in the office. We supervise construction, test mock-ups, and refine details against real hands and real light.
Specification // Recognition
Selected Recognition
ArchDaily Building of the Year
Casa MonteArchDaily
Awarded for the resolution of a monolithic stone volume within its coastal landscape.
European Architecture Prize — Honourable Mention
Atelier NorteEuropean Centre for Architecture
Recognised for the adaptive transformation of a 19th-century workshop into a working atelier.
Best Residential Project
Villa MarimPortuguese Architecture Awards
Awarded for the restraint of its material palette and the quiet orchestration of light.
Emerging Practice of the Year
Architectural Review
Selected among Europe's emerging practices for the coherence of the studio's built work.
Specification // Chronology
The Practice Timeline
Founded in 2018, the studio began as a small practice focused on residential projects in northern Portugal. Over the years, our work has expanded across the country and into new typologies — commercial, cultural, and interior — while maintaining the same principles of material honesty and spatial clarity.
2018
Studio Founded
RAFA Design Hub established in Porto, focused on residential architecture.
2020
First International Project
Completed our first project outside Portugal — a private residence in Galicia, Spain.
2022
Studio Patio Completed
Moved into our own studio space — a renovation of a 19th-century building in Porto's historic centre.
2023
Interior Design Practice Launched
Formalised the interior design practice under Tiago Martins' leadership.
2025
Casa Monte Awarded
Casa Monte recognised as ArchDaily Building of the Year, marking the studio's growing international recognition.
2026
Largo Gallery Completed
Opened our largest cultural project to date — a contemporary gallery in a 17th-century Lisbon palace.
Specification // Collaboration
Clients & Collaborators
Private Residences
Homes designed from the site outward, across Portugal and Spain.
Commercial & Workspaces
Working environments shaped for their users and their urban context.
Cultural
Public rooms and institutions conceived for collective life.
Hospitality & Retail
Spaces of exchange, materially grounded and built to endure.
Full client references available on request.
The Studio // Porto
The studio is open — to the work and to those who commission it.
Conversations begin informally. Write to us, or visit the atelier in Porto's historic centre, where the practice lives beside its models and its material library.
Atelier Location
Rua do Patio 42, 4000-000 Porto ↗41.1579° N, 8.6291° WDirect Line
+351 220 000 000Commissions
studio@rafadesign.comVisits
Studio visits by appointment