Project Name
Casa do RosárioPosted in
Residential, Design, Interior DesignLocation
Architecture Practice
depACompleted
2016Detailed Information | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Project Name | Casa do Rosário | Posted in | Residential, Design, Interior Design | Location |
Porto
Portugal |
Architecture Practice | depA | Completed | 2016 |
Located in the upper part of Rua do Rosário, from which the house takes its name, Casa do Rosário resembles a typical Porto building. A thin façade stretches over three floors, the body of the house unravelling backwards and opening out onto a restricted patio. The street, once the possession of a local trader and Madonna-of-the-Rosary-devotee, attracted many families of Porto's 19th-century trading class. The archetypal layout of these houses reflects the families' path to fortune: as they rose through the ranks, additional volumes were stacked to create a larger space fitting their status.
The architects approached the project as a work of preservation keeping the original references intact and repurposing most of the parts found on site. The restored façade was pieced together with the original yellow tiles and served as an inspiration for the tenuous colour scheme of the interiors. Inside, cream-colored plaster works can be seen throughout the stairway that leads up to yet another staple of Portuguese architectural codes: the skylight. Together with two winter gardens and a polygon-shaped terrace, this is the central light piece brightening both the front and the back of the building.
Reminiscent of Catalan modernist apartments and attuned to the wider Iberian peninsula tradition, the house is partly floored in geometric-patterned hydraulic tiles. Other areas are panelled in tricapa and cedar wood matching the neutral taste of the furniture, much of which was designed by the architects themselves and assembled locally. Finally, corrugated metal sheets have been used to redress the exteriors of the attic providing a sensual ruggedness to the aesthetics of the building and creating an ensemble with more contemporary areas of town and the construction narrative of the 1980s.
At present, Casa do Rosário accommodates two private residences and a selection of short-term studios for an immersive experience in Porto's up and coming neighbourhood of Cedofeita.