Saboia Residences
Location: Estoril Portugal
Project: Freelance
Client: Evolution Av. SA
Blank proposes and assumes architecture as the struggle between background and foreground.
This Freelance project requested a significant alteration and renovation of a house into a 5 storie and 10 apartment complex in Estoril, Portugal with a small budget. The project was designed and documented into governmental approval; the only people involved in it was my client and myself.
The solutions found, always kept in mind its financial costs, the transformation was quite significant, the project went from a two-story small house to a five-story, ten apartments building with a garage and garden with a communal swimming pool.
The design follows a couple of simple rules that give it stability and ease of construction, the clean and straightforward lines deliver a quiet residential building that knows what it is in the context it exists in.
It is a simple building that is sure of itself.
To maintain costs down the stairs and elevator shaft stayed in the same position found in the existing building, that position gave an immediate division in terms of floor space management. South-facing is where the three-bedroom apartments are located with a living room that has access to a large veranda and a view to the sea, and to the north side, the smaller apartments have a protected view into the quiet residential street.
The entire social area is surrounded by wood armoires that overlay the walls everywhere. This gives a contrast between the blue ocean view and the wood-panelled walls from when the house is entered.
Each bedroom is a suite to follow economic trends in the area and promote a better standard of living. There is also a small laundry room in the larger apartments, regarding the smaller north-facing apartments which contain a more humble approach making use of a more traditional floor plan while maintaining as much open space as possible considering the overall size.
The top floor is the owners’ floor and due to the city council had to maintain the context pitched roof; thus the real challenge was in the modelling and calculating comfortable spaces in a pitched roof environment.
To maintain costs down the stairs and elevator shaft stayed in the same position, that position gave an immediate division in terms of floor space management. South facing is where the three bedroom apartments are located with a living room that has access to a large veranda and a view to the sea.
The entire social area is surrounded by wood armoires that overlay the walls everywhere. This gives a contrast between the blue ocean view and the wood panelled walls perspective from when the house is entered.
