It can be intimidating to measure oneself against old masters, but fortunately, as Thomas Bernard said, “in the end we are abandoned” by them. That way we can overcome the anxiety of the influence they wield over us, and the respect they deserve does not clip our proactive freedom. An example is this renovation of a duplex in Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza’s Blancas Torres apartment building. With archaeological thoroughness based on original plans, superfluous additions were removed, reestablishing the layout that opened out to terraces and enhancing the curved structural screens, all while introducing new solutions to update the amber atmosphere envisioned by Oíza for his vertical garden city.