Rua dos Mercadores, 40
Location: Porto, Portugal
Date: 2007
Gross Area: 33 m2
Briefing: Renovation of a very small irregular shaped and poorly naturally lit one bedroom apartment located in a medieval building in the historical center of Porto in a short period of time and with a minimum of resources for hosting tourists.
Intervention: The project strove to enhance the spatial and geometrical arrangement of an otherwise very constricted flat, by using two L-shaped volumes in Valchromat to re-organize both the living/cooking/dining areas and the bedroom. One volume in red colour containing kitchen, laundry, a folding table and the bathroom and one volume in yellow colour containing cabinets and storage were inserted in a strategic disposition. Because natural light was very scarce we also adopted a system of hidden lighting along the windows to boost the low intensity of the sun's rays that reached the spaces as well as a number of indirect lights above the cabinet-walls.
