Portugal’s Zaniest Architecture Studio Is at It Again

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Project Details:

Location: Porto, Portugal

Architect: Fala Atelier / @fala.atelier

Footprint: 4,090 square feet

Photographer: Francisco Ascensão / @francisco.ascensao

Photographer: Giulietta Margot / @giulietta_margot

Photographer: Lera Samovich

From the Architect: "The new structure enters the existing building on its own terms. A row of thin metal poles carries an I-beam stretching from front to back. When needed, the beams are interrupted; these cuts are exposed and celebrated.

"The new elements are painted bright red and blue. They occupy positions within the space that are deliberately disruptive, blocking doors, windows, and passages. Because of that inconvenience the structure becomes visible. It is an active participant of the space. Besides the structure, the building required a few fragmented interventions. Within the interior space, very little was demolished and a couple of strategic walls were added. Toward the street, the building acquired a reflective hat; toward the back, a new translucent layer mitigates the question of insulation, offering an enclosed balcony on each level and a new mask, made of glass, yellow frames, stripes of mirror, and marble.

"The project is made with lines and surfaces, both approached in a way that is systematic but excessive. The existing spaces are reimagined with lines of wooden skirting, yellow frames, and dense metal mesh. Colors are let loose. Each room is disassembled into sides of white, light green, and dark blue paint. Mirrors are applied where the edges do not quite meet. Mistakes result in the multiplicity of reflective surfaces. The resulting space is abundant and complex, yet every room, fragment, or corner within the house follows the same logic. The fragmented project is taken apart in order to be reassembled with a different system, to suggest a different reading of an existing building."