Village Underground Lisboa

Village Underground Lisboa, in Alcântara, is a vibrant cultural hub reimagined within a former public transport depot. The project features a striking arrangement of 14 repurposed shipping containers stacked in sculptural formation alongside two restored Carris buses—now transformed into a café and meeting space—creating an inventive and flexible creative village.

Integrating Studio Astolfi’s interior vision, the buses were given a narrative identity through immersive installations—most famously using collected shoes to evoke movement, community, and the city’s social pulse—turning everyday objects into storytelling media.

Inside the containers, dynamic coworking studios and creative workshops foster a lively artistic community that includes visual artists, food vendors, production studios, and cultural platforms. This multidisciplinary ecosystem reflects Lisbon’s growing creative economy and its spirit of collaboration.

The architectural strategy originally conceived by Arte Tectónica (partners on the project) transforms the industrial into the eternal—stacked containers create terraces, shared courtyards, and visual rhythms that define collective space without sacrificing functionality. Studio Astolfi’s interior work amplifies that poetic reuse through tailored design interventions, weaving narrative and object into the spatial fabric.

Today, Village Underground Lisboa stands as a cultural landmark—recognized by Forbes as one of the most innovative coworking environments in the world—offering workspace, events, art, food, music, and community under one roof.