Casa no Príncipe Real

Casa no Príncipe Real, Lisbon, Portugal, Camarim Arquitectos
Project year: 2013
Architect(s):
Address: R. da Palmeira 8, LISBON, Portugal
Latitude/Longitude: 38.715187449224,-9.149128113423668

Photographs:

Located a few metres from the Garden of Príncipe Real in Lisbon, this 41 m² plot allows the construction of a small 5-storey urban house for a family.

The exiguity of the plot has led us to a scheme where each floor has a different function and layout and all floors connect through a vertical atrium of variable geometry, providing a naturally-lit cadenced, progressive route. In addition to its spatial qualities, the atrium works as a thermal chimney for passive cooling during spring and summer and allows air renewal throughout the year.

The building’s skin is a contemporary approach to the tiles covering the former building, which was in advanced state of decay. We defined a set of abstract rules to transform the original tile’s motif in an abstract pattern, embodied in 3 distinct media: a flat-tile base, a bas-relief-tile body and a perforated-steel, light-permeable, entablature.

Hard as it would be to plan a typical construction site in such a small plot, we opted for a light steel construction system – LSF – which has an excellent thermal and acoustic performance. It is the first building in Lisbon made with this system.

Text description provided by the architects.

Site area: 41m2
Built area: 205m2
Project architects: Vasco Correia, Patrícia Sousa
Collaborators: Tiago Garrido, Jonas Grinevicius

Contributed by Camarim Arquitectos