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.

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
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.

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
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.

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
one single wall, half circular in plan, was proposed

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
the old tall doors and shutters were replaced by new ones, non-ornamented but painted by hand

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
different textures, geometries, and materials are in contrast with the white background

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
the color surfaces become the spatial actors in the apartment routine

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
the living area is a limbo composed of three clearly defined moments

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
the choice of materials allows for a cleared understanding of the different moments

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
view of the living area from the kitchen

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
original condition

fala atelier chiado apartment portugal designboom
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)

 

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: juliana neira | designboom