vitória 225

In the heart of the city of Porto, the opportunity arose to design a building on the ruins of an old construction.The challenge was to create a volume that would integrate with the urban look of the houses in the historic center and adapt to the sharp unevenness of the place, taking advantage of the privileged and unique view of this World Heritage Site.

 

Its position, which is adjacent to the owners' main dwelling, was decisive in defining their functional program. Thus, the project foresaw the flexible use of spaces, constituting the complement of the existing building without, however, jeopardizing its independent use in the future. The construction of the reinforced concrete building, apparent in interior floors and ceilings, proved to be an enormous challenge in view of the constraints caused by the narrow profiles of the surrounding streets.

 

The final result, of an artisanal nature, is clearly satisfactory and unique, with its nuances and imperfections typical of successive concreting at the rhythm of shovels and buckets. If the interiors have a simple and minimalist ambience, the diversity of the concrete finish and add the color of the roofs that extend down to the river add up to an almost magical final result that can be enjoyed through the large glass windows that frame the landscape.