Carlota Rebelo

Xavier Salomon landed in Lisbon nine months ago to become the director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum but the dark-oak bookshelves in his office are still empty. “I keep joking that I’ve been living out of boxes because the focus has been entirely on the museum,” he says with a smile. Rome-born Salomon arrived in the Portuguese capital from the Frick Collection in New York, tasked with overseeing a major renovation.

“The idea was born from the shared pleasure and joy of working with print, design and paper,” says O Momento’s co-founder João Costa. After years of running a print studio in Lisbon’s Baixa neighbourhood, he knew that there was an appetite for something bigger. So when the shop next door became vacant, Costa and his business partner, Cláudia Baeta, saw their chance to take the next step. O Momento – which combines a shop, a co-working space and a printing house – opened in 2024.

Is there an antidote to loneliness in our cities? If you ask the Danes, the answer could be co-housing: a community‑led way of living that can improve quality of life while also making urban life more affordable. The concept places single-family homes around shared common areas, giving residents central places to gather, garden and play.