fala atelier refurbishes 19th-century apartment in lisbon

fala atelier refurbishes 19th-century apartment in lisbon
(above) the redesign aimed to erase all the previous interventions
all images © fernando guerra Fg+Sg

fala atelier is an architecture practice based in porto led by filipe magalhães, ana luisa soares, and ahmed belkhodja. established in 2013, the studio works with a wide range of projects that go from territories to birdhouses. their latest project is the ‘chiado apartment’, a 120 square meter home, built in the turn of the 19th century, that presented a fragmented arrangement of rooms and an erratic overlay of successive interventions by previos owners that abandoned the original character of the space. by erasing all the interventions, the separation between night and day area became clear. one single wall, half circular in plan, was proposed.

the apartment was built in the turn of the 19th century and has 120 square meters

the brief requested the preservation of the plaster ceilings, the inclusion of the remaining structural elements, the partial raising of the pavement, and an adjusted and coherent programmatic distribution. the eccentricity of the proposed inner volume is a studied logical deduction from the given parameters. the living area is a limbo composed of three clearly defined moments while being just one space. contrasting with the building’s original fragmented typology, the choice of materials allows for a clearer understanding of the different moments.

the brief asked to preserve the plaster ceilings

the old tall doors and shutters were replaced by new ones, non-ornamented but painted by hand with three different tones of blue, making the color surfaces become the spatial actors in the apartment routine. the overlay of geometries, textures, and materials, contrasting wit the abstract white background and the unapparent rational rhetoric of the spatial intervention, stipulates an identity.

one single wall, half circular in plan, was proposed

the old tall doors and shutters were replaced by new ones, non-ornamented but painted by hand

different textures, geometries, and materials are in contrast with the white background

the color surfaces become the spatial actors in the apartment routine

the living area is a limbo composed of three clearly defined moments

the choice of materials allows for a cleared understanding of the different moments

view of the living area from the kitchen

original condition

plan

project info:

client: grace yacoub + zaman brand design

location: lisbon, portugal
date: january – november 2015
status: private commission, built
project team: filipe magalhães, ana luisa soares, ahmed belkhodja, ana lima
photography: fernando guerra (fg+sg)

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edited by: juliana neira | designboom