The former industrial zone became the site for a design school nearly 20 years ago but over the past few years it has been attracting not just students but designers and architects

Cutting edge: traditional houses are being restored in Old Santos

Colourful culture: Buildings range from 19th- century warehouses to older apartment blocks. Some, complete with French windows and wrought-iron balconies, date back more than 250 years to when the great earthquake of 1755 resulted in much of the city being rebuilt.

Mix and match: Alongside these classic buildings are plainer, more functional 20th-century apartment blocks and light industrial workshops.

Changing places: The real impetus for change in the area came in 2005 when the area was rebranded by a group of local design businesses, interiors shops and smart restaurants as 'The Santos Design District', complete with website and unofficial marketing operation.

Fashionable fronts: Tiled properties on "Calcada do Marques de Abrantes" show the difference in style between many of the houses in the area

Sitting comfortably: Towards the docks themselves the area naturally becomes rougher but for many of Lisbon's hip young crowd this edginess has been part of the appeal.

Traditional tiling: An example of the original blue and white tiled properties well-known in the area

Keeping with tradition: In Santos, the infrastructure has been little altered and developments have been more organic

Santos Design district: When it opened, the local branch of Armani Casa was something of a trailblazer

Bright ideas: "Paris Sete Concept" design shop in Largo Vitorino Damasio

Outward thinking: Looking out of the coloured glass window of "Flor" the Florist on to the patio behind Largo Vitorino Damasio which houses a series of design shops and boutique hotels

Time to shop: The Santos Design District” has a shopping guide, website and an unofficial marketing operation

Going places: Although Santos’s transition has been slow, one factor that should speed up the gentrification process could be accelerated by a new development from British architect Norman Foster, currently going through the planning process.

Gerard Hancock/www.genusphotography.com

Old favourites: There’s quite a range of building styles here, some from the 1970s and 1980s, seventies and eighties but the period properties are usually the most attractive and sought after now