The room that aimed to be an apartment and turned into a “House”

Ā© JoĆ£o Morgado

Architects: URBAstudios

Location: Porto, Portugal

Architect In Charge: Nuno Alves de Carvalho

Area: 49.0 m2

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: JoĆ£o Morgado

Constructor: Coperage Engenharia

Ā© JoĆ£o Morgado

The room that aimed to be an apartment and turned into a “House”The project is located in a XIXth century building in the historical centre of the city of Porto. The object of the intervention was a room of 36m2 in a damaged state, facing towards the front of the third floor of the building. The vertical communication of this kind of building is typically situated in the centre, so that there is a room facing the front and one facing the back of the building.
Diagram

The programme was ambitious for a 36m2 space. The client wanted to build, with a limited budget, a complete apartment for short term renting, able to allocate 4 to 5 people with the best possible privacy. 

Ā© JoĆ£o Morgado

The approach aimed to take away the temporary and impersonal character typical of short term renting apartments by using a familiar and universally recognizable concept/image.

Plan

Given that the project is in the top floor of the building, it was possible to expand the space towards the attic gaining more than 13 m2 of usable area. Moreover, it en...