Architecture studio OTTOTTO has renovated the interior of a house in Porto, using green metal mesh to encase its originals stone walls. When OTTOTTO removed the plaster from the walls of this house, two imposing stone walls were revealed. Their beauty made it inevitable to keep them in sight, adding just a new layer, in metallic mesh, to blend the 20th century with the new structure and skylight.
As it is common in the center of Porto, Portugal, the house is narrow, long and has only two fronts: the challenge was to bring more light to the semi-basement and to all the interior spaces; drawing a single cut in the roof was the solution – a “square ring”, with a constant width of 70 cm, that crosses the three floors and is overlooked by eight windows. It’s the windows that create tension between each room, as from one you can always spy on another.
The large glass area, the new structure of green steel and the green floor and metal mesh, gave the remodeled home its name – GreenHouse.
The structure supports three new volumes, built from brick and painted in white, that hang over the kitchen and the large dining and living areas, with access to the porch. On the first floor, a room at each end of the house; in the centre, a bathroom sits alongside a small office-balcony. In the attic, a mezzanine lays over one of the bedrooms, and a surprising attic above the office.
Connecting the floors, black iron stairs; the same that colors to the doors and baseboards. In the windows, orange curtains provide privacy and color to the spaces.
The front of the home has been kept intact; in the rear, corrugated metal reveals the new intervention, and the galvanized finish reflects the sun illuminating the small garden. Designed and built for an imaginary client, the house is now for sale, including the decoration by Primeira Demão.
