Architects: Hugo Proença

Location: Carcavelos, Cascais, Portugal

Project year: 2009

Contractor: Bloco Zero

Constructed area: 65 sqm

Budget: 35.000€

Photographs: FG + SG - Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Within a small and inadequate 65 sqm flat, near the beach, in Carcavelos , the primary objective was the creation of a strategy that highlighted the division between spaces and added to the walls more than streaming elements. A single guiding line that solves in a single stroke the program as well as the constraints inherited by the building system - the interior structural vestment in concrete could not be demolished within the available budget.

floor plan

The project was to organize a single residential home - living room, bedroom, dining room, kitchen and bathroom, without preconceived functional concepts. These are autonomous areas, where only the bathroom and bedroom have doors. The transition between spaces reveal some elements of surprise, and creates intentional interrelations. We can claim that these are gateways where the feeling of the whole is never lost.

The strategy was driven with the use of carpentry as the foundation of the intervention. The same material for the same function, to overcome the basic need - storage. The creation of two front-to-front cabinet units define and frame the living space. While one (white, closed and full height) define the entrance of the bedroom, the other (black, open and 2,10m tall) defines the passage into the dining area and breaks through to the kitchen, adding an ancillary module to it. The worktops and the kitchen units follow the same language - clean, straight and functional. The flooring is neutral, light grey, reflecting the sunlight that enters through the windows.

In the hallway, the mirror panel (fixed and pivoting) hides the bathroom and reveals to those entering or leaving their reflected image that welcomes or says goodbye.