Rehabilitation of Duplex Apartment Bugio | AIA Atelier

Rehabilitation of Duplex Apartment Bugio consists of transforming the entire interior of a duplex apartment located on the top floors of a building that preceded the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. As the apartment was small and the client wanted to maximize the number of bedrooms, one of the strategies was to reduce circulation spaces to the minimum possible, changing the entire interior organization in order to make the relationship between spaces more effective, but always preserving the characteristics of the original apartment.

Downstairs the existing kitchen was replaced by the bedroom, with the new kitchen occupying the central space of the house. The space in the living room was enlarged both horizontally and vertically, unifying all the original details of the wooden elements (friezes, doors, shutters, door trimmings, footers …). With the discovery of the crosses of Santo André (wooden structure) forming a panel across the width at the top of the living room, almost like a large work of art, a game of sloping ceilings running through the apartment began, starting from the living room, going up the stairs to the top floor and then going through all of the divisions.

On the top floor, all spaces are organized around a central closet/shower, creating a rotating movement that only leaves the outside patio behind. Throughout the apartment, we always tried to take advantage of all the corners and all the existing niches, to create storage spaces, some with more and others with less direct connection to the main spaces.

Project Info

Architects: AIA Atelier
Area: 1506 ft²
Year: 2018
Country: Lisbon, Portugal
Photographs: Carolina Delgado
Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Geberit, BRUMA, CIN, Clínica do Mármore, Efapel, Franke, Glem, Ikea, Mother Studio, Pladur, Roca, Sanindusa, Sanitana, Velux, Viúva Lamego
Lead Architect: David Ferreira