Architects: Pedro Domingos Arquitectos Location: Lisbon, Portugal Collaborators: João Graça, Margarida Faria Project year: 2008 Constructed area: 280 sqm Budget: US $130,290 Client: Ara, Alves Rodrigues, Associado Lda. Photographs: FG + SG - Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra
The project consist in the reconstruction of building of XIX century, inserted in the Lapa/Prazeres district.
The pre-existing build was in an advanced degree of degradation, the facades and the sidewalls was the usable structure.
The strategy was to replace the old “organ” – the interior structure of wood and plaster, by a new one, also of wood and plaster, trying to get the compatibility of the whole “body.”
The inside space of organize in which floor by a functional structure in the center of the house that includes stairways, bathrooms and closets, leaving one free space to which side of the house, that can by bedrooms or living rooms, with variable dimensions.
The central structure in wood releases the loop read of the solid boundaries, clarifying the relationship between existing and new.
The reconstruction consisted in strengthening the existing walls with a “skin” of concrete with 7cm esp., and the construction of slabs with beams of plywood “KERTO” 20x7cm, applied to the width, with a spacing of 41cm. Above this system of beams are the blankets of sound insulation and wooden floors.
The structure of slabs is apparent and painted in white, giving scale and character to habitable spaces.
