Lupita’s new Alvalade spot hits like architecture dipped in fire, and it’s built to age like steel. The studio responsible for this? XXXI.studio, who describe themselves as “driven by a duality between chaos and beauty,” and damn if this space doesn’t deliver on that promise. This is pizza as structural spectacle: reflective steel, exposed surfaces, and a layout that trusts the material honesty of industrial design to carry the mood.
Opening to the Street
From the street, the building doesn’t whisper, it opens. The full-height opening doesn’t just blur the line between inside and out, it erases it completely. No glass barrier cushioning you from the street, no polite distance between the kitchen and the sidewalk. The ovens sit right there at eye level, chefs working in full view, flour dust catching the light as dough hits the peel. Pizza-making isn’t hidden: it is the show.
Images by XXXI.studio
Production as Architecture
Minimal stainless steel tables and stools are positioned along the exterior edge to maintain a direct visual and spatial connection between staff and visitors. This isn’t a sit-down lounge. It’s a production floor. Every seat has a direct line to the ovens, bringing diners as close as possible to the act of making pizza.
The acquisition of an adjacent unit allowed for the creation of a dedicated pre-production and storage facility, enabling the main space to serve exclusively as a customer-oriented environment. The architecture doesn’t just house the kitchen, it optimises workflow, foregrounds craft, and wraps it all in a design that feels coherent and rebellious.
What’s radical here is XXXI.studio’s commitment to longevity through flexibility. The studio’s strategy prioritises preservation and adaptability, existing features are maintained whenever possible, supporting long-term ecological goals by allowing the space to accommodate future tenants without major structural changes. Identity lives in movable elements, not permanent gestures.
The ambition is to merge production, architecture, and street life into something indivisible. Instead of soft lighting and heavy décor, you get polished steel glinting under harsh lights, concrete breathing under open skies, and an interior rhythm that echoes the city outside. If you thought pizza spaces had to be warm and intimate to feel real, Lupita Alvalade refutes that notion. Here, the rawness is the intimacy.
Image by XXXI.studio
XXXI.studio: Building Between Chaos and Beauty
XXXI.studio operates in the space between conceptual innovation and deep technical expertise, moving seamlessly between design and execution while treating construction as a natural extension of the creative process. This multidisciplinary practice has spent nearly a decade turning Portugal into their personal playground, prioritising raw materials and honest process over Instagram-ready décor.
Their portfolio? A who’s-who of Lisbon’s coolest haunts: Lupita’s original 2019 spot, cocktail bars UNI and Toca da Raposa, restaurants BAZ and Fúria. Each one a masterclass in making industrial grit feel more inviting than a thousand Edison bulbs ever could.
Image by XXXI.studio
