Text description provided by the architects. This intervention takes place on a partially ruined building, located in the historic center of Barcelos, a small city in the northwest of Portugal. The project installs a multifunctional program: a single-family house and an architecture studio. Taking advantage of the two facades (north and south) of the pre-existing building, facing two streets at different levels, the following functional distribution was organized: the parking and storage area are located on the ground floor, with access from the street at a lower level (facing north); the studio, on the first floor, with access from the street located in a higher level (facing south); the housing unit, occupying the third and fourth floors.
The project recovers and revisits traditional construction methods, particularly with regard to the structure (wooden beams supported on the perimeter walls made of granite masonry) and the composition and materiality of the facades (ornamental stonework and wooden frames). A floor was added (to accommodate the private area/bedrooms of the house) and its elevations highlight the guiding lines of the geometry of the primitive building. This floor is set back in relation to the alignment of the existing facades, allowing a response to three fundamental objectives: the creation of outdoor living areas/balconies; the demarcation between eras and languages (on this floor, corrugated sheet metal is adopted as the predominant exterior covering material, typically used in blind gables between buildings); reducing the impact of the construction on the profile of the two streets that border it.
On the inside, two strategies were implemented: the articulation between contemporary and traditional elements, alluding to the building’s various historical periods; the creation of open-plan spaces and the use of materials and devices permeable to light, so that in each compartment you can experience the simultaneous presence of the lighting and environment of each of the streets that the building faces.
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Cite: “Atelier 111 House / André Simão & Nuno Bessa” [Casa Atelier 111 / André Simão & Nuno Bessa] 09 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed .
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