Renovation of a family house built in the early 1980's, located in Rio de Mouro, Sintra. The main architectural challenge was to gain much needed space and light in the existing kitchen and dining room.
The proposed solution was the demolition of the partition walls between both spaces, as well as the creation of a large sliding door/window in the living room which allowed to gain direct sunlight from the south and a more direct connection to the exterior social space. The dining room window was also enlarged until the pavement height, allowing for great solar gains from the west, with a spectacular view facing the Serra de Sintra.
The material palette used was kept to a minimum, opting for solid riga wood flooring in the entire house except for the kitchen & bathrooms, where a mix of terrazzo bespoke flooring and travertine mosaic were used. Micro-cement was used for both bathrooms, opting for a grey tone in the ground floor bathroom to match the grey terrazo (with copper showerheads & faucets) and a beige tone for the walls upstairs bathroom, which was almost completely done in micro-cement; in this particular bathroom, a direct view towards the Serra de Sintra and the Palácio da Pena can be observed.
The kitchen was turned into a large open space encompassing the main entrance and dining room; here, we opted for Lioz marble countertop, using grey & bronze tonality for the rest with solid wood shelving on the walls & white backsplash tiles.
The light grey windows match the existing grey Azul de Cascais stone jambs and sills. The existing staircase was completely renewed, the solid redwood Sucupira steps recovered as years of extensive use and an existing carpet had damaged them extensively.
The interior is currently finished except for a few bespoke wood pieces, namely closets for the bedrooms & wood cabinetry for the laundry. The exterior will also undergo a second phase, with the installing of a bespoke railing, a metalwork piece which is currently in production.
Location: Meleças, Sintra, Portugal
Client: Private
Role: Lead Architect
Status: Built.
Location: Rio de Mouro, Sintra, Portugal
Client: Private
Role: Lead Architect
Builder: Vitor Ferreira, Manuel Ferreira
Electricity: Carlos Tavares
Carpentry: Jorge Palma
Stonework: Nelson & Almeida
