In Montijo, near Lisbon, Bak Gordon Arquitectos together with RM Arquitectura tackled with a delicate approach the difficult issue of adapting a historic building in order to improve its accessibility by inserting a lift.

The Municipal Gallery is a building nestled in the heart of the historic city and dates back to the 19th century. In order to prevent the existing layout from being compromised, the design solution was to locate the lift outside the historic building, placing it in a residual area turned into a small linear garden tangential to the structure and equipped with seating and vegetation: a tiny urban oasis among the buildings, hidden by fence walls along the street (interrupted by the emerging volume of the lift) and only partially visible from the outside through a grille that accentuates its aura of intimacy and mystery.

Inside, the warm tones of the floors, seating and walls plastered with slightly sandy cement mortar, on which vegetation stands out, create spatial cohesion and give the environment a serene and pacifying atmosphere.