ALEPO Arquitectura was founded in 2011 by Rolf Heinemann. As a German architect who has been active in Portugal for more than 20 years, often in collaboration with other offices and in a vast array of geographies, the establishment of the new company was a logical step in order to give a new form to our growing range of  activities on the fields of architecture, urbanism, design and project management.

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The origin of the name ALEPO is quite simple.

 

ALE stands for Alemanha, the Portuguese name for Germany

and the initials PO represent Portugal. 

 

ALE & PO = ALEPO.

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The name ALEPO therefor reflects not only the personal history of its founder, but also our social and economic footage within the European Union, in this case exemplified by just two countries, Germany and Portugal.

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Secondly, the name ALEPO was chosen as a reference to one of the greatest monuments of urbanism, the  city of Aleppo in Syria, with more than 8000 years considered one of the oldest constantly inhabited cities in the world.

 

Making the Mediterranean span from Lisbon to Syria, and the European connection from Germany to Portugal, the name ALEPO thus symbolizes the geographic and historic ground that has given origin to our present culture.

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Unfortunately, 2011 marked also the beginning of the Syrian Civil War which led in 2016 to the almost complete destruction of the city of Aleppo and causing the deaths of an uncounted number of inhabitants of the historic city. The stories and images of the destruction of Aleppo have shocked the world, as well as those of an enormous crowd of refugees fleeing the country.

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ALEPO Arquitectura does not have any closer bonds with Syria or the city of Aleppo, although we would be glad to give a tribute to the future reconstruction of the city. By now we can only actively support the refugees, many of whom have found shelter in European countries, among which Germany and Portugal.