Coelho Neto House

• Client Privado/Private
• Date 2014-2019
• Location Porto
• Fase Concluido/Concluded
• Photography Filipe Brandão

Renovation project of a house from the late 19th century on Rua Coelho Neto, Porto. The house is located in a narrow plot, facing Rua Coelho Neto and Rua das Oliveirinhas. Although it appeared to be in a reasonable state of repair, all the wooden elements of the building suffered a termite attack, except for the roof trusses and room doors.

The objectives of the project were to adapt the building to contemporary housing requirements, remove degraded building elements and perform corrective interventions on the existing structure. The renovation of interior spaces introduced proper bathrooms facilities and improved natural lighting and overall living conditions of each room. The marked degradation of the partition walls led to the complete replacement of the interior partitioning, except for the staircase. The existing wood beams, fragile and significantly deformed, was replaced and concrete slabs, built at the rear of the building, were demolished.

The project maintains the typological characteristics of Porto’s bourgeois buildings: central staircase with skylight, high ceilings, open facades occupied by main rooms; and the constructive characteristics: stone walls, framework, trusses and wooden floors. In the façade towards the backyard, a volume with contemporary language was constructed to house the kitchen, maintaining access to the patio and improving the lighting of the main living room. All annexes, previously present on the exterior patio, were demolished to improve living conditions on the ground floor and create a pleasant outdoor space for the enjoyment of all users.