Avenida do Rio
Location: Avenida do Rio, Lote 2, Armação de Pêra, Portugal
Date: 2011
Gross Area: 95 m2
Briefing: Remodel a 2 bedroom apartment for own usufruct and rental during vacation period; modernize the space while retaining most of the existing furniture and equipment; introduction of an extra Sanitary Installation; allow the use of the living room also as a bedroom in case of need.
Intervention: After careful consideration and analysis of the existing situation, and taking into account the detailed preliminary program presented by the client, the concept of the intervention sought to articulate the various intentions present in it with the requirements of a limited budget.
Compartmentalization was redefined and the new spaces were designed based on a principle of functional and geometric clarification, in tune with the structure and infrastructure of the building: the kitchen and the laundry room became more compact; the only existing Sanitary Installation was transformed into two smaller ones, one articulated with the Entrance Hall and serving the common areas and the other in relation to the corridor that gives access to the bedrooms; the Dining Room has been reshaped into the central core of the house and the Living Room has gained an extra function allowing it to be transformed into a real bedroom by introducing a set of concealed sliding panels inside the walls. The repositioning of the built-in furniture and the reduction of the areas exclusively destined for circulation allowed to increase the sense of amplitude of the main spaces.
With regard to the environments, we intended to make them more serene and welcoming, without neglecting the resistance and functionality of the materials in relation to the coastal location of the property and its use for beach related holidays. With this in mind, a palette of colors and neutral materials were chosen in order to give tactile and visual comfort to the spaces: birch maritime plywood for its excellent performance against humidity and its light but warm tone for all carpentry, walls and doors painted light gray in order to tint the intense Algarve light and the ceramic flooring of dark gray tones to make a contrasting effect.
The treatment of light, both natural and artificial, was also given special attention by introducing two large glass doors in the transition between the Dining Room, the Kitchen and the Bedroom Access Corridor so that virtually all the compartments could be bathed by sunlight, also allowing a great visual permeability between the various common areas of the flat, opting for solutions of indirect or projecting artificial lighting, namely embedded into the cupboard of the Dining Room, Kitchen, Living Room and Corridor.
