Rehabilitation of an 18th Century Building, Porto
This was a relevant challenge in the historic center of Oporto: the restoration of an 18th century building, on a symbolic place such as the Infante Square, opposite the Mercado Ferreira Borges.
The program focuses on transforming the upper floors of the building and adapting it to receive an office floor and seven apartments, two in duplex. The office floor will make the transition between the dining establishment in the same space of the old Restaurant Comercial on the ground floor, and those for housing, which allows free use of the restaurant without reducing the comfort in the apartments.
The intervention is also conditioned by a previous configuration, already performed, the vertical distribution, stair and lift, and also the new metal structure. From these constraints, coupled with the specificity of the building, we tried to balance between the uniqueness of the spatial characteristics of the 18th century construction and the introduction of modern elements, associated with contemporary living. In the elevations, the change has been the decisive choice of colors. This had a fundamental role given the attention to the important tile at the ground floor that makes a kind of frame to the existing finish on gorgeous iron.
