The Lumiares occupies the former Conde de Lumiares Palace, high in Bairro Alto, an 18th-century building whose name turns on light. It had to feel of Lisbon, not applied to it, for guests who choose it to be somewhere specific.

We built the programme with Portuguese artists and makers, around the idea in the name. A radiant metal relief anchors the reception; a suspended cluster of lit frames reads as a constellation overhead; stylised portraits and bold geometric works carry local colour through the rooms. A line of Fernando Pessoa, "onde as estrelas mentem luz", sets the register in the guest's own encounter with the walls. Authentically Lisbon, and lit from within.