Miguel Bombarda Residential Building

Designed by architect Paula Santos,this multifamily residential building,built from scratch, interprets rationally the typology of the Oporto traditional house, with central staircase and skylight, transforming the single housing unit in four housing units (a duplex and three 2 bedroom apartments). As for the elevations, they turn away from tradition, looking for an independent language, admittedly generic, and derived from a rigorous geometry which required the prefabrication of large dark gray pigmented concrete panels. As in all buildings designed by Paula Santos, the apparent formal simplicity results from a demanding exercise as to the level of detail. Minimalism, as an imported concept from the arts present is in this art galleries street, and in this building, its architectural image.

The aim of the project was to rebuild and expand a residential building on one of the most emblematic streets in Porto, Rua Miguel Bombarda, where several art galleries are located. The existing building, already showing some signs of degradation, was of little relevance. The depth of the lot allowed the design of a garden and also of another autonomous building. The project made very little use of the existing structure, except for the main facade wall and the respective spans, the metrics of which were preserved. The beautiful granite balcony has also been maintained and, together with the solid brick that was placed on the ground floor, represent the main features of the facade.

A wide side corridor gives access to the building's entrance, the stairway and the lift and it still allows foreseeing the passage to the garden inside the block, uneven in relation to the street. The vertical accesses are illuminated through a skylight. Inside the lot, overlooking the neighbours’ gardens, the back facade was designed with a solid brick cladding at its base. The other autonomous construction was also designed with solid brick cladding placed horizontally and vertically. Eight of the ten houses in the building are of one bedroom type. On the first and last floors, duplex houses of two bedroom type were designed to solve the base and the top of the building. Inside each home, concrete is the predominant material as well as in all common areas.