Building on Cedofeita Street

Cosmopolitan Living

The project is located on a front of Rua de Cedofeita in Porto and aims to expand a two-storey building, bringing it closer to the adjoining volumes (3 floors + attic conversion). The programme includes the insertion of seven studio apartments along the two fronts of the building, starting from the complete conversion of its interior.

In the composition of the main facade, the heritage constraints imposed in this historic area are adapted, reproducing the alignments of openings and granite frames of the neighbouring buildings, as well as the roof conversion in corrugated metal sheet. In the composition of the new rear facade, a tripartite solution of openings is maintained, to which a body of metal-structured balconies is juxtaposed, enhancing the apartments' relationship with the garden.

The most significant transformations occur inside, where the granite party walls are supplemented by a new red-coloured exposed concrete structure, shaping the central staircase, accesses, kitchens, and a new truncated conical skylight in the roof. These exposed concrete surfaces contrast with the lightness of the metal elements of the central staircase, as well as the kitchen cabinets and wooden partition panels serving as a backdrop for the studio apartments.

The proposed typologies “contaminate” this old building and this ancient urban area, creating conditions for more cosmopolitan living.