Portuguese Zen | Architecture that resonates with your soul

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At Portuguese Zen Architecture, we aim to design spaces that go beyond looking good, where, most importantly, people feel good, creating architecture for well-being.

Paula de Lacerda, Senior Architect & Founder

At Portuguese Zen Architecture, we aim to design spaces that go behond looking good, where, most importantly, people feel good, creating architecture for well-being.

Paula de Lacerda

Senior Architect & Founder

ABOUT US

Portuguese Zen Architecture is an architectural firm based in Luxembourg, founded by Paula de Lacerda, an award-winning architect with the Green Good Design Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, USA.

With over 20 years of experience in the United States of America, Portugal, and Mozambique, Paula de Lacerda brings her unique background and skills to help clients with their architectural needs creating spaces that resonate with their souls.

The firm is a registered member of the OIA - Ordre des Architectes et des Ingénieurs-Conseils, legally constituted in Luxembourg, developing projects in two main areas:

Architecture - member AP/11307 and

Interior Architecture - member RP/11308.

ABOUT US

The firm is a registered member of the OIA - Ordre des Architectes et des Ingénieurs-Conseils, legally constituted in Luxembourg, developing projects in two main areas:

Architecture - member AP/11307 and

Interior Architecture - member RP/11308.

OUR APPROACH

Respect, empathy and cooperation,

are core foundations to our practice.

The renovation or the construction of a new building is quite an endeavor. For many, it represents the investment of a lifetime and the main reason why they work so hard for decades on their jobs.

That is why, at Portuguese Zen Architecture, we highly value our clients by actively listening to their needs and desires, nurturing a spirit of mutual respect and harmonious cooperation that allows us to develop projects of architecture that meet our client's expectations.

At Portuguese Zen Architecture we LOVE the DIGITALIZATION of processes that enhance the quality of our HUMAN experience.

At Portuguese Zen Architecture, we understand that for most people, it takes a lot of work to visualize the spaces of their future building by simply looking at two-dimensional technical drawings.

That is why, at Portuguese Zen Architecture, we help you visualize and feel the spaces designed for you since the beginning by offering a Virtual Reality Tour of your project. You can visit and revisit your project as often as you want, in the comfort of your home and the company of your loved ones, by accessing a link sent to your smartphone and using the VR glasses we offer you.

At Portuguese Zen Architecture we LOVE the DIGITALIZATION of processes that enhance the quality of our HUMAN experience.

At Portuguese Zen Architecture, we understand that for most people, it takes a lot of work to visualize the spaces of their future building by simply looking at two-dimensional technical drawings.

Take a Virtual Reality Tour

of your architectural project

Taking a Virtual Reality Tour of your architectural project helps you make informed decisions regarding any changes you desire during the conceptual phase and before any money is spent on construction, avoiding what could quickly become very costly disappointments.

Doesn't it make sense that if you try new clothes on several times before nailing the perfect look that fits your personality, shouldn't you have the opportunity to make the same conscious decision when purchasing, building, or renovating your home?

We believe so. Using technology (not being used by it) can significantly improve the quality of our human experience. We love it has the potential to simultaneously improve the efficiency of our work while saving us the most precious asset: time.

That is why a vital part of the strategy of Portuguese Zen Architecture is the requirement to use 3D BIM (Building Information Modeling) in all projects. It significantly improves the flow of collaborative work between professionals from different areas and also improves efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and project sustainability in the entire construction process.

As a result, at Portuguese Zen Architecture, we develop projects that resonate better with your soul more efficiently and in less time.

Awards and Nominations:

GREEN GOOD DESIGN AWARD

'Clinica de Drenagem Linfática Manual Dr. Vodder' in Lisbon

by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, United States of America and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies

Minnesota STAR Award for Excellence in Design

'Wolfgang Puck Express’ restaurant, at the International Airport in Minneapolis/SP Paul, USA

Academic Roles:

mentor

CALA - University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, EUA

invited teacher

Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade Moderna, Setúbal, Portugal

invited teacher

Universidade Politécnica, Quelimane, Mozambique

Why Portuguese Zen?

The founder, Paula de Lacerda, is a Portuguese Architect on an ongoing personal quest to find Zen within. Her perspective on life changed dramatically once she understood that "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin). This new paradigm shifted the way she sees and feels life and consequently is reflected in the mission-oriented work she develops with the intention to make the world a better place for us all to live and for the generations to come.

Portuguese Zen is also the designation of an innovative interactive well-being system, Invented and patented by Paula de Lacerda, that was created for the Clinic of DLM Dr. Vodder to allow each patient inside the treatment room to choose the visual and the sound experience of their own preference, emphasizing the effects of the well-being sought during the treatments.

PAULA DE LACERDA

SENIOR ARCHITECT | FOUNDER

Paula de Lacerda is a Portuguese architect born in Mozambique, graduated from the Faculdade de Arquitectura - Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Portugal.

Selected by the Luso-American Foundation, Paula de Lacerda accepted the invitation to carry out her academic internship at the University of Minnesota - College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. She subsequently started her career as an architect in the United States of America, where she worked with some of the most prominent architecture firms in the country, gaining a significant role in the conceptual development of projects of several typologies and scales in architecture, urbanism, design, and interiors.

While collaborating with RSP Architects, Paula de Lacerda authored the Project for Wolfgang Puck Express at the International Airport of Minneapolis/St. Paul that was nominated for a STAR Award for Excellence in Design.

In 2012, already under her private practice, Paula de Lacerda was awarded the Green Good Design Award from the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, USA, for the project of the Clinic DLM Dr. Vodder in Lisbon, Portugal.

Paula de Lacerda was a member of the Organizational Committee for the EDRA (Environmental Design Research Association) Conference, together with professors from the University of Minnesota, reflecting her commitment to building sustainable environments that benefit the world.

Academically, Paula de Lacerda collaborated as a mentor for students of architecture at the University of Minnesota, and as a guest teacher at the Universidade Moderna, in Portugal and Universidade Politécnica, in Mozambique.

Living and working in such diverse environments in Europe, North America and Africa, has allowed Paula de Lacerda to accumulate a unique wealth of knowledge and experiences. This developed her flexibility to explore her creative spirit in search of innovative and environmentally responsible solutions that best respond to the uniqueness of its context to qualitatively contribute to improving the lives of the human beings inhabiting the spaces she designs.

Paula de Lacerda founded Portuguese Zen Architecture in Luxembourg, a unique country with less than one million people, where it's a privilege to live in perfect harmony, cooperation, and respect among people representing more than 170 nationalities, setting an example to the world of what it is to live peacefully in a global village.

SENIOR ARCHITECT | FOUNDER

PAULA DE LACERDA

Paula de Lacerda is a Portuguese architect born in Mozambique, graduated from the Faculdade de Arquitectura - Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Portugal.

Awards and Nominations:

GREEN GOOD DESIGN AWARD

'Clinica de Drenagem Linfática Manual Dr. Vodder' in Lisbon

by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, United States of America and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies

Minnesota STAR Award for Excellence in Design

'Wolfgang Puck Express’ restaurant, at the International Airport in Minneapolis/SP Paul, USA

Academic Roles:

mentor

CALA - University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, EUA

invited teacher

Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade Moderna, Setúbal, Portugal

invited teacher

Universidade Politécnica, Quelimane, Mozambique

WHY PORTUGUESE ZEN?

Portuguese Zen is also the designation of an innovative interactive well-being system, Invented and patented by Paula de Lacerda, that was created for the Clinic of DLM Dr. Vodder to allow each patient inside the treatment room to choose the sound and the visual experience of their own preference, emphasizing the effects of the well-being sought during the treatments.

Green Good Design Award

Architect Paula de Lacerda, founder of Portuguese Zen Architecture, was awarded the Green GOOD DESIGN award in 2012, from the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design recognizing her holistic and sustainable approach to architecture reflected in the project for the Clinica de Drenagem Linfática Manual Dr. Vodder in Lisbon, Portugal.

Green Good Design Award

The Green GOOD DESIGN AWARD recognizes the world’s most important examples of sustainable design, fostering public awareness about companies and individuals that exemplify the highest standards for ecologically-oriented design practice, including prominent global manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies for meeting the highest standard for Design Excellence.

This award bestows international recognition to those outstanding and visionary architects, designers, and urban planners, among others, that have forwarded exceptional thinking and inspired greater progress toward a healthier and more sustainable universe.

The Green Good Design Awards are a subset of the Good Design Awards, curated by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. Good Design was originally founded in 1950 by Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., as a collaboration between the MOMA and The Chicago Athenaeum, making it the oldest and one of the most prestigious awards programs in the world.