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Santa Catarina Apartments
Santa Catarina Apartments
Porto, Portugal
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Santa Catarina Apartments
Porto, Portugal
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2015
SIZE
3000 sqft - 5000 sqft
When the project arrived at the office, the building had been the former Small Court of Porto since 1994, with changes that resulted in a deteriorated space over time, due to successive attempts to adapt it.
The rehabilitation process focused on preserving the historical memory of the building and its harmonious integration into the urban fabric while introducing new residential and commercial dynamics. The conversion inside created 16 apartments, evoking the memory of bourgeois houses, adapted to contemporary living needs, complemented by commercial and office spaces on the ground floor. The intervention in the building aimed to rescue the structure, returning it to the original use for which it was built. From the original memory, there was a careful reinterpretation of the Portuguese bourgeois house, where there are no corridors, but rather a succession of mutable and inhabitable compartments. In a reinterpretation of the noble ceiling, with barrel or ribbed vaults, plasticity is created that also seeks to recover a memory.
The intervention maintained the original structure and identity of the building, especially on the front facade, where elements such as stonework were recovered and new tiles were placed. In the center, the vertical accesses that remain are the element that redefines the proposal. From this central core, each floor is divided into 4 parts, corresponding to a typology from T0 to T2. In addition to the rehabilitation of the building on the street front that enhances its original characteristics, on the upper floors, the metric of 9 openings is recovered.
At the back facade, the composition of the inherited facade was confusing and careless, full of air conditioning units attached to a facade of small sills from the administrative areas of the court. To standardize the exterior language, the openings are extended to the slab, and a second skin is created in a parallel structure, which mimics the plasticity of the ceilings and gives a new look to this facade, promoting outdoor spaces for the apartments through large balconies overlooking the pool.
The conscious choice of materials such as marble stone and ipê wood, along with the replacement of the frames with more efficient solutions, reflects a commitment to durability, quality, and thermal comfort. The recovery of the roof, including the integration of skylights to maximize natural lighting, is a strategy that reduces dependence on artificial energy sources, aligning the project with the principles of energy efficiency.
More than an architectural transformation in the city of Porto, this work revitalizes the top of Rua de Santa Catarina, enriching the local heritage and economically activating the area. Returning housing to the city complemented with public uses contributes to the well-being of the local community that is intended to be preserved, reinforcing social and cultural ties through different uses, and directly addressing the housing shortage in major cities
The rehabilitation process focused on preserving the historical memory of the building and its harmonious integration into the urban fabric while introducing new residential and commercial dynamics. The conversion inside created 16 apartments, evoking the memory of bourgeois houses, adapted to contemporary living needs, complemented by commercial and office spaces on the ground floor. The intervention in the building aimed to rescue the structure, returning it to the original use for which it was built. From the original memory, there was a careful reinterpretation of the Portuguese bourgeois house, where there are no corridors, but rather a succession of mutable and inhabitable compartments. In a reinterpretation of the noble ceiling, with barrel or ribbed vaults, plasticity is created that also seeks to recover a memory.
The intervention maintained the original structure and identity of the building, especially on the front facade, where elements such as stonework were recovered and new tiles were placed. In the center, the vertical accesses that remain are the element that redefines the proposal. From this central core, each floor is divided into 4 parts, corresponding to a typology from T0 to T2. In addition to the rehabilitation of the building on the street front that enhances its original characteristics, on the upper floors, the metric of 9 openings is recovered.
At the back facade, the composition of the inherited facade was confusing and careless, full of air conditioning units attached to a facade of small sills from the administrative areas of the court. To standardize the exterior language, the openings are extended to the slab, and a second skin is created in a parallel structure, which mimics the plasticity of the ceilings and gives a new look to this facade, promoting outdoor spaces for the apartments through large balconies overlooking the pool.
The conscious choice of materials such as marble stone and ipê wood, along with the replacement of the frames with more efficient solutions, reflects a commitment to durability, quality, and thermal comfort. The recovery of the roof, including the integration of skylights to maximize natural lighting, is a strategy that reduces dependence on artificial energy sources, aligning the project with the principles of energy efficiency.
More than an architectural transformation in the city of Porto, this work revitalizes the top of Rua de Santa Catarina, enriching the local heritage and economically activating the area. Returning housing to the city complemented with public uses contributes to the well-being of the local community that is intended to be preserved, reinforcing social and cultural ties through different uses, and directly addressing the housing shortage in major cities
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