Personal Project - Built
Just (Re) Do It!...
EXISTING SITUATION . Located in the center of the popular Alvalade neighborhood in an iconic modernist building from the 60`s, this small apartment, which was pretty damaged.and uninhabited for more than 20 years, had no particularly interesting
THE MAIN IDEA . The conceptual approach was radical and pragmatic. to demolish everything and strip down the apartament to the bone, virtually setting back as much as possible the partition walls between the existing living room (extremely small), and the adjacent toilet, bedroom and entrance hall (these last 2 both too big) in order to rebalance the referred proportions. Other 3 goals were set from the start; to create a fluid circulation between the 3 main spaces, achieved by placing a second door that connects directly the bedroom and the living room, which slides back allowing additional direct sunlight to flood the living room and a diagonal view from this space towards the existing balcony and its planter, the most important and valued original feature of the apartment, which was kept, deep cleaned and repainted.
OTHER GOALS . Other goals were set in order to make the best spatial use of a rather small apartment, full of residual spaces and "conflicts" between its architecture and structural elements which "overlapped" it. Among them, feeling up many wall setbacks and residual spaces with niches and inbuilt furniture, such us a bookshelf in the living room, a few shelfs in the toilet, a built-in fridge in the kitchen, a walk-in closet in the bedroom and, in another hand, hiding from view a couple of existing beams by creating lowered plasterboard ceilings in the entrance hall, toilet, kitchen and walk-in closet, which also provided a spatial hierarchy in contrast with the 2 remaining spaces, living room and bedroom, both with higher ceilings.
MATERIALS . The idea was to establish a subtle contrast between 3 groups of main materials or colours in order to create a light, warm and cozy environment: white surfaces in plastered walls, ceilings or white handmade tiles cladding in the kitchen backsplash and toilet walls, light color wood surfaces, like the use of traditional 1950´s pinewood flooring (same type of the damaged original flooring) and birch plywood panels in all the doors and in-built furniture and contrasting concrete surfaces in the remaining visible beam and columns of the bedroom and toilet floor. In the living room a bulky existing beam had its plaster covering removed in order to expose its ruff pastel coloured textured surface, which matched the pastel color sandstone of the existing windows and toilet counter, as well as its niche, and transform it into a central feature piece (as they say, "if you can't beat them, join them"...;)
BEFORE & AFTER
Existing Floorplan
Proposal Floorplan
DETAILING . High attention to detail was given in order to create a simple, elegant and seamless design. This minimalist approach is most visible in the floor to ceiling custom made pivoting doors and absence of door handles on inbuilt furniture cabinet doors, among other details… The result was a positive vibe, warm, natural light flooded, cozy apartment with, as another architect colleague of mine described it, “Nordic feel”…I took it as a compliment. ;)
