This is a place where I don ́t feel alone. This is a place Where I feel at home (...) " The Cinematic Orchestra, To Build a home, (2007)

The renovation project of an apartment from the 50s in Alvalade, Lisbon, consisted an opportunity to reflect on how to improve what was already a good apartment, full of character. The original apartment had 6 compartments of similar areas, so the furniture was distributed in diferrent spaces, organized by different functions, however it was in the compartment chosen for living room that most of the time was spent.

The project sought to create a wide social space that took advantage of the generous floor area of the apartment (160 m2), in respect of the structure of the building, maintaining 3 functional bedrooms, of which is now one a suite.

It was proposed to demolish the first two compartments located to the east and part of the long corridor, in order to design a large living room connected to the dining room with an open kitchen and acess to a terrace. In this way, there is a transversal crossing throughout the entire building that connects two complementary functions of a social character and which increases the feeling of living space. By being a top floor there was the opportunity to bring fire to the center of the house by creating a fireplace.

It is from the living room that you can acess to the three bedroom area, now with a shorter corridor, but with the optical illusion of the distribution of the original house (6 compartments), with a floor to ceiling mirror at the bottom. This is the visual and longitudinal axis of the house, from the moment of entry. The room visually and functionally connects the east and the west side of the house, which gained more light throughout the day.

Part of the original floor was recovered and the living areas where rebuild with a new floor, just like the old one. Tiles from the period of the house were chosen, present today in the market for bathrooms and Kitchens, in order to have unity in terms of materiality, but with chromaticity in the spaces. Built-in cabinets and pivotating doors were designed that now make spaces more flexible, according to day-to-day life. As Ralph Waldo Emmerson ( 1803-1882) once said: "A House is made with walls and beams; a home is build with love and dreams".  

Material Used:
1. Jular
2. Aleluia Cerâmicas
3. Sanitana
4. Secil Isodur