Cité Arquitetura is responsible for the retrofit project - the remodelling and adaptation to a new use - of the former Hotel Paysandu, in Flamengo. The project will transform the hotel into a residential centre with 50 flats, as well as providing communal spaces and a rooftop leisure area, while maintaining and highlighting elements that define it, such as the notable Art Deco style of the façade. In addition to Cité, Piimo's new development will feature landscaping by Burle Marx and lighting by Maneco Quinderé. 

"It's always a great challenge and an honour to work with memory and connect it in an innovative way with current times, with a glimpse of the future. This was the great motivator for the Paysandu 23 project, the former Hotel Paysandu. A listed property, it has become the substrate for yet another challenge that seeks to interweave the lines of the past and the future," says architect Fernando Costa, a partner at Cité Arquitetura.

For the firm, the space takes on symbolic importance because it allows a dialogue between the eras, revealing the interiors to the external space in a place designed to look at the city and its development.

In the project, memory is present in various elements and with different meanings, serving as a support for the insertion into contemporaneity. The listed façade was given special care in the restoration process, restoring the brilliance of its Art Deco style architecture with lighting by Maneco Quinderé.

As for the interiors, stepping through the door reveals the use of various important elements from the original project, such as light fittings, panelling, doors, among others, but with a new meaning, taking on new uses and functions within the space. "In this way, we can appropriate memory as a support for the needs of the contemporary world," Fernando continues.

Finally, the project presents an evolution in the concept of coworking spaces, by designing with a contemporary look at new ways of working. "Instead of being in a single place, the workspaces are spread out over the floors, bringing them closer together and making it easier for the resident to have more comfort in their new routine. This is how Paysandu 23 is made up, a project that dresses itself in memory, always looking for new interpretations to deal with contemporaneity and the future of living," concludes architect Celso Rayol, a partner at Cité Arquitetura.