pedro ferreira refurbishes art deco house into tourist-use unit in porto

pedro ferreira’s ‘casa de camões’ set in porto, portugal, introduces a paradigm shift in what the studio practice is concerned. for the first time, the project team was challenged to go beyond the architectural design and embrace the furniture and decoration options of the whole. the building, an art deco-inspired house built in the second decade of the 20th century, has a spatial layout that was completely different from that of a typical house in porto. the redesign was intended to create an integrated unit for tourist-use, only composed by four small, 1-bedroom apartments.

front facade of ‘casa de camões’
image by joão morgado

portuguese based pedro ferreira architecture studio‘s solution maintains the original spatial layout, characterized by a ‘front/rear’ organization, with a side staircase, and it creates four apartments, where once there were different residential activities in the house. contrary to previous projects, the exercise here was not to define boundaries between the present and the past, but rather to search and reinterpret formal and spatial contemporary solutions of the original house’s construction.

the living room is set on the ground level

pedro ferreira sought to design hierarchical spaces where different parts of each apartments’ program are visually distinguished – kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom. at the same time, the architects avoid the compartmentalization as well as the temptation of an open space. the furniture follows the premise also. elegant, eclectic, polychromatic, it lives from and to the house, creating a strongly poetic and emotional whole.

the furniture follows the premise — elegant, eclectic, polychromatic

pedro ferreira sought to design hierarchical spaces where different parts of the program are visually distinguished

the architects avoid the compartmentalization as well as the temptation of an open space

the studio creates four apartments, where once there were different residential activities in the house

detail of the side staircase

view of the living room and kitchen

it was intended to design an integrated unit of tourist-use, only composed by four small, 1-bedroom apartments

the solution maintains the original spatial layout, characterized by a ‘front/rear’ organization, with a side staircase

floor plans

sections

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edited by: apostolos costarangos | designboom