HAS – Hinterland Architecture Studio redesigned Apartamento do Morro, a small apartment in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, aiming to maximize the living space of the house, stripping it to the bare minimum and reorganizing the plan.
–text by the authors
The small apartment, with only 60sqm is part of a 60’s affordable rent building. The original house is divided into minimum spaces, articulated by the entrance hall and a small corridor.
During the first demolitions it was clear that there would be constrains with the old building infrastructures and it would be impossible to change the kitchen and bathroom location. With budget constraints the strategy was to demolish the unnecessary partition walls, change the old damaged windows and apply thermal and sound insulation to the exterior walls.
The new plan keeps the original bedrooms and bathroom location while the entrance hall, kitchen, living room and sunroom are merged to a single space, providing sunlight to the whole apartment.
Since the first site visit, architects knew the existing floor would be an important visual element, it was recovered and completed while the walls and ceiling were painted in full white.
The woodwork is designed as new contemporary elements, built in coloured wood fibre panels and applied as ready-made objects in the existing space.
Drawings
Facts & Credits
Project title Apartamento do Morro
Architecture firm HAS – Hinterland Architecture Studio
Architects Filipa Figueira, Tiago Vieira
Location Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Date 2019
Build Area (m2) 60m2
Photography Ivo Tavares Studio
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