01
The home is a relationship
A house is not an object but a long conversation between people, place and time. We design for the next hundred years, not the next fashion cycle.
Manifesto
A house is not a product.
It is a promise —
to a place, a family,
and a future.
Casa Nova began with a single question: what would a home look like if it were designed by people who had to live in it for a hundred years? Everything we have built since follows from that question.
Six principles
02
Technology should disappear
The best systems are the ones you forget. Sensors, models and interfaces that work in the background — present when needed, invisible when not.
03
Materials should age beautifully
We choose materials that improve with use, repair with skill and return to the earth without harm. Nothing we use should end as waste.
04
Place is non-negotiable
Every home is a response to its specific land, climate and community. We never build the same house twice — and we never impose a generic design on a specific site.
05
Carbon is the scorecard
Embodied, operational and end-of-life emissions measured against an honest benchmark. If we are not improving the land, we are not doing our job.
06
Craft is the engine
The knowledge of skilled makers — joiners, masons, plasterers, electricians — is the foundation of everything we build. We hire them, train them and publish what they teach us.
Ten years
A short history.
2014
Founded in Lisbon by Ana Castro and the late engineer Joaquim Ferreira.
2017
First residence completed. Off-grid capability established as a baseline.
2019
Apprentice programme launched. Knowledge commons opens to the public.
2021
Seasonal thermal storage patent filed. First estate-scale development delivered.
2024
Carbon-negative pilot homes in three climates. 47 apprentices to date.
— Casa Nova
Lisbon · Stockholm · Kyoto
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