When Portuguese architect Florêncio da Costa was asked to turn an old hayloft into a guesthouse, he created a clean, modern look with all white, wood and micro-cement, but left it rooted in the past: leaving the original granary structure and constructing the new elements using traditional joinery.

“He was born in a rural place, as was I,” explains his colleague at Oficina d’Arquitectura. “We are used to seeing old houses. The normal approach is to destroy and build new infrastructures, new houses. Our philosophy is different: ‘Okay, let’s use it. And let’s transform it, but not destroying it at all.’”

The tiny home reflects the tradition of the main house and the surrounding agrarian neighborhood of the Porto suburb of Santa Cruz do Bispo while embracing the modernism of clean lines and well-defined shapes.