The building subject to alteration is a construction from the 1950s. Designed by architect Agostinho Ricca, the building is part of a representative complex that embodies the modern Porto of the second half of the 20th century. Rua de Ceuta is indeed a paradigmatic example of urban management. Planned in the 1940s and designed by the then young architect Arménio Losa (1908-1988), according to references to the ideals of Modern Architecture, it impresses with the speed of its opening and construction - in less than a decade - as well as the quality and modernity of its buildings designed by Arménio Losa with Cassiano Barbosa, Agostinho Ricca, Mário Bonito (all associated with the Organization of Modern Architects - ODAM), as well as Carlos Neves, Mário Ferreira, José Moura da Costa, Manuel Magalhães, and Júlio de Brito.
We are therefore dealing with a building that is part of an important complex, representative of the affirmation of Portuguese Modern Architecture and its implementation in the city of Porto, whose preservation is of great importance.
Being a mixed-use building, it consists of a basement and ground floor designated for commercial purposes, the first floor for "offices or medical clinics," and the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors for residential units (two per floor). Additionally, there is a terrace designated for the caretaker's residence. As a curiosity, it is worth mentioning that Ricca's initial project, which was later revised and never implemented, originally included the construction of four "apartments" per floor on the fifth and sixth floors. This idea is now being revisited, albeit with a different design.
The renovation of the building primarily focused on the reconfiguration of the upper floors, restoring and recovering facades and the roof. The mixed-use nature of the construction was maintained, although the service units on the first floor were converted into residential units. On the ground floor, the commercial space connected to the offices on the first floor was divided into two separate units, each with direct access to the street through numbers 38 and 48. The internal connection to the office floor on the first floor was eliminated, but the communication with the basement space allocated to commerce was retained. In the basement, the original open space was divided to accommodate each of the shops. The original sanitary facilities were also maintained.
The sub-basement space facing the courtyard, previously used for individual storage, was remodeled to incorporate natural lighting and ventilation. It was transformed into a small gym for communal use by the residential units, along with a small laundry area and an administrative space for the condominium. At this level, near the elevator shafts, a single storage room was created for the condominium's use, housing maintenance and cleaning materials. The remaining 25 units are distributed across the upper floors, with the aforementioned change of use on the first floor, which will now be used for housing. Four housing units occupy this floor, taking advantage of the vertical circulation organization, dividing the layout into quadrants to accommodate three T1 typologies and one T2. The new compartmentalization respected the rhythm of exterior openings and revived the spirit of the "open plan" from Ricca's initial apartment design, where the living room and kitchen share the same space. As the subsequent typologies on this floor align with the roof slab of the shops, it was proposed to use this space to create two terraces that will serve as extensions of each of the north-facing units. A wooden platform will be used for the terrace flooring, and a lightweight structure made of frosted laminated glass will separate the units. This new layout for the housing units was replicated from 2nd to 6th floors, with the added advantage of having exterior balconies.
Finally, on the 7th floor, the caretaker's residence was remodeled and expanded to accommodate two T2 apartments that benefit from the elevated position, offering an enviable south-facing view of the city center. This expansion remains set back in relation to the main façade and the extreme east, making the slight increase in construction imperceptible when viewed from the north side. A modern expression canopy crowns and protects the south-facing glass frontage, enhancing the use of the terrace in that direction. Similar to the proposed terrace on the first floor, a wooden platform was used for the flooring, and frosted laminated glass was used for the partition between the units.
