Portuguese studio Aboim Inglez Arquitectos has updated this 1930s apartment in Lisbon with patterned parquet floors, grey marble surfaces, custom furniture and a new sun room.
The architects stripped back the interiors of the long and narrow apartment on Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca, revealing its existing hardwood parquet flooring.

They restored the original wooden floor where possible, and redesigned and replaced it in areas where it was missing.
The parquets have different tones and are arranged to create alternating light and dark squares, creating a variety of patterns bound by strips of light wooden boards that trace the outline of areas.

"There was an existing hardwood parquet pavement on the apartment that unified the whole space," architects Maria Ana and Ricardo Aboim Inglez told Dezeen. "The concept of the pavement design is original from 1938," they continued. "We believe it was used to stress the independence of the rooms and circulation areas and at the same time acting as the element that unifies the whole house."

Prior to the renovation the apartment featured a series of underused spaces connected by a poorly lit 15-metre-long corridor. The team cut through walls at either end of the hallway to allow in more light and removed doors between spaces to leave openings.

"Light was allowed in where it was needed and some doors were removed to reinforce the permeable spatial character that we aimed for," said the archi...