Raw Culture Art & Lofts

Architectural Palimpsest

The project encompasses a 17th-century palatial building located between two streets in the dense Bairro Alto district, where the “Casa Portuguesa” printing house once operated. This function led to successive architectural transformations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, some of which were removed, while others were integrated into the current work.

The building incorporates twelve tourist apartments accessed from its two fronts, complemented by a bar-café and a gallery/event space on the ground floor.

The new central structure in metal profiles “perforated” the various existing floors, concluding the pre-existing construction methods and elements: vault slabs and iron and wood beams. The partitions between apartments, also made with modular metal elements, recall the pre-existing industrial spirit.

The original staircase was replaced by a new circular staircase, assumed as an intrusive and autonomous element, topped by a skylight that allows central lighting and ventilation. The top floors are set back and crowned by an apartment, not visible from the streets.

The composition of the existing limestone masonry facades preserved the rhythm and dimension of the existing openings and other projecting elements in stone, such as cornices and pilasters. Overall, this project aimed to provide formal and structural coherence to a true architectural “palimpsest.”