Historic architecture is a reflection of its time. Decades or centuries later, studying the aesthetics, politics, and culture of the era offers vital clues to help us understand how and why our heritage was shaped and realized. Yet, while history and cultural context shapes the broad contours of the built environment, individual buildings also bear the fingerprints and eccentricities of their authors. For Portuguese firm REM’A Arquitectos, a careful mediation of cultural heritage and eclectic individual spirit guided the renovation of a compact mixed-use building in the city of Póvoa de Varzim.

For starters, the late 19th-century corner building defied easy categorization. While elements of Renaissance Revival style broadly define the building’s aesthetic, the exterior ornamentation and colour palette reflects a bespoke — and unconventional — mix of Italianate, Iberian and central European influences. The designers studied the two-and-a-half-storey Edifício A’mar, discovering that the distinctive architectural expression was inspired by the original owner’s extensive travels and experiences around the world.

As the REM’A Arquitectos team learned more, their attention turned to paying homage to not only the original architectural style, but also the more intangible ethos of adventure and evolution that shaped it.

Alongside a careful restoration of the colourful and expressive façade, a small addition was inserted at the back of the building. At once understated yet assertive, the streamlined new volume — which is stepped back along the second storey to open up a small private guest terrace — is a pared down composition, adorned by simple vertical slats and a bold earthy red hue.

On the ground floor, a corner-facing commercial space has been restored to service as a flower shop, while the upper storey and attic now comprise four intimate guest rooms catering to tourists and longer-term visitors. While the retail entrance animates the prominent corner frontage, a compact garage is discretely — and almost invisibly — tucked into the addition’s monochrome façade, and the guest entrance is situated along a side street.

Inside, the lodging house interiors were re-made with an interplay of bold colours and subtly irregular geometries against a crisp white palette. Simple, spatially efficient guest rooms are finished with minimalist private bathrooms and a shared kitchenette — spaces which are deftly accented by solid colours and an elegantly irregular, staggered interplay of Portuguese ceramic tiles. (In this respect, REM’A Arquitectos channels a pragmatic poeticism reminiscent of Portugal’s Álvaro Siza, as well as contemporary local practices like Fala Atelier.)

Animated by a sense of playfulness and expression, the bold hues, oblique geometries — particularly along the central yellow stair — and unconventional finishes create a spirited dialogue with the building’s history. While the place was explicitly not returned to its 19th century condition, a feeling of adventure once again defines an eye-catching local landmark.