Oh Porto Apartments, Portugal Residential Building, Architecture, Photography
Oh Porto Apartments in Portugal
Contemporary Portuguese City Homes – design by Nuno Melo Sousa + Hugo Ferreira, Architects
6 Oct 2016
Oh Porto Apartments
Architects: Nuno Melo Sousa + Hugo Ferreira
Location: Porto, Portugal
Oh Porto Apartments

A building on a privileged site in dialogue with the emblematic D.Luís I bridge, the river, facing the houses and Porto´s Ribeira, embedded within a unique landscape that leads us where the Douro crosses the horizon.
 
 
 
Building on top of this area protected under the flag of Unesco with its charming historical character, was a delicate process ? a deep reflection made of very strong restrictions.
 
The existing building, buffeted by abandonment and full of add-ons, would have to adapt to a new type of use: apartments for local tourism. On four floors, measuring 13.80m by 7.20m, it was necessary to organise five independent studios for flexible use, a penthouse, a reception with a common kitchen, back office and technical areas.
 
 
Given the constraints of the building´s weakness, the remaining thick perimeter granite walls, and new programmatic use, the design concept serves three principal structures:
1- a longitudinal concrete axis serving as backbone to support the existing structure and to solve all the technical necessities: bathrooms, kitchens, vertical ducts, lighting and the elevator. Applying this layout, the studios became o...