Contacto Atlântico has been named a Winner at the DNA Paris Design Awards in the Architecture/Renovation category for the Zara Rossio project in Lisbon. The award recognises the studio’s ability to transform a building with more than 200 years of history into one of the most acclaimed retail spaces in the world, while preserving its Pombaline character and architectural identity. For Contacto Atlântico, this distinction confirms a position built over decades: that of an international reference in heritage renovation.
What are the DNA Paris Design Awards?
The DNA Paris Design Awards are one of the most prestigious international design competitions, based in Paris, honouring outstanding work across several disciplines, including architecture, interior design, product design and visual communication. Entries are assessed by an international jury of specialists, which makes every distinction a recognition by peers.
Being named a Winner in the Architecture/Renovation category carries a concrete meaning: it places Contacto Atlântico among the studios shaping the future of heritage renovation worldwide. Heritage renovation, here, means intervening in buildings with protected historical value, adapting them to new uses without erasing the elements that make them unique.
How was a 200-year-old Pombaline block reimagined?
The Zara Rossio project posed one of the most demanding architectural challenges in contemporary Lisbon: the renovation of a historic Pombaline block facing Praça do Rossio, one of the city’s most emblematic public squares. Pombaline architecture is the planned reconstruction style of Lisbon’s Baixa district after the 1755 earthquake, based on regularity, symmetry and standardised building systems, and it is precisely that character the intervention had to respect.
The challenge lay in the balance. It required reconciling the demands of a world-class retail space with the preservation of the building’s most significant historical features, including original tiles and ceiling paintings that are centuries old. It was not only about protecting these elements, but about integrating them into the experience of the spac
What does the renovated space offer?
Across five floors, the renovated space brings together fashion and home décor collections, along with a café. This combination creates a multidimensional retail experience, meaning a journey that goes beyond shopping and strengthens the building’s relationship with its surroundings while enhancing its historical identity. It was this expertise in heritage renovation that the jury highlighted as the decisive quality behind the award.
Why is heritage renovation Contacto Atlântico’s core expertise?
The DNA Paris award joins a series of national and international recognitions received by the Zara Rossio project, consolidating Contacto Atlântico’s position as a reference in high-end architecture and building renovation, in Portugal and beyond.
That position rests on proven experience. With more than 30 years of work in urban renovation, the studio has a portfolio that includes projects for Louis Vuitton and Massimo Dutti, as well as the iconic Diário de Notícias building, winner of the Prémio Valmor, the oldest and most prestigious architecture distinction in Lisbon, awarded by the City Council to buildings of exceptional value. This track record shows that, for Contacto Atlântico, architectural rigour and heritage sensitivity are not constraints, but opportunities.