Renovation Apartment Alcântara

Located on Rua José Dias Coelho in Lisbon, the renovation of this apartment is located in the attic of a building that dates back to the thirties. Set over four floors, this mixed construction building is aligned with the three twin buildings to the south and a lower level of the neighbouring building to the north.
With regard to its layout, access to the apartment is to the west, where we enter a large adjoining living room. In this room, a large skylight was created, which, together with the two restored mansard windows, offers a unique view of the 25 de Abril Bridge. To the east are the kitchen, the bedroom, the sanitary unit and the new office.
Articulation of the entire architectural concept can be found in the design of a new hall, which seeks to reconcile two distinct approaches to rehabilitation in one single dwelling:
The first to be applied throughout the apartment, with the exception of the hall, identifies, recovers and designs in accordance with the original building plan of the apartment. Every architectural feature is included: the plinths and door frames are protruding and matching, the wainscoting sits on the plinths in order to allow for a continuous view and the bedroom closet is adopted as a protruding piece that allows for total contemplation of the space when observing its ceiling.
The second approach, to be applied exclusively to the hall, reinterprets each of the aforementioned architectural features, disguising them in order to highlight the purity of a new cubic space: it utilises the wing, the fitting of the doors flush with the walls, the painting on the floor and the design of a vertical metallic stairway with access to the office, which seems to float in the space.
The result is a representation of the way in which two design approaches can coexist, reinvigorating a preserved and restored architectural memory.

Lisbon - Portugal
2018