Fala Atelier, a young architects team based in Porto, has completed the rehabilitation of a small garage into a home for a young couple. The garage with many skylights but without windows.

The project designed by Fala Atelier has transformed an abandoned garage in a dwelling building in Lisbon into open-plan living space for a young couple with a parking-exhibitor for their black and vintage car.
 
The group is self-proclaimed “naïve architectural practice” is quickly gaining recognition for its scenographic approach, their collages, using few materials to built and an interesting colour palette on doors and curtains. A fresh vision with the best Aldo Rossi influences.

 

Description of project by Fala Atelier

The project started with an unconventional request from an open minded couple: within a very tight budget, to convert a windowless 200m² garage into a house.

The proposed intervention intended the clearest reading possible of the existing structure, emphasising its strength. While the garage was careless and grey, the house is clean and white; its materiality is flat, its light is abstract. 

Two generous bathrooms were included behind a curved wall, where a broken corner was before; the walls and ceilings were painted in white and the floor covered in a continuous polished concrete surface; the existing skylights we’re rethought. No other change felt necessary. 

Carefully placed elements organize the living areas: a marble kitchen, curtains, potted plants. Along with the furniture, the free standing elements carry the flexible identity of the house, hinting its domesticity while punctuating the abstract volume with color. 

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Project team
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FALA ATELIER.- Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares, Ahmed Belkhodja, Mariana Silva, Camelia Petre, Clara Pailler
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Consultants
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Paulo Sousa
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Dates Fechas
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September 2015 - April 2016
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Client
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Private commission
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Manufacturers
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Bruma, Ikea, Sanitana, Alepe
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Fala Atelier is a naïve architecture practice based in Porto, led by Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares and Ahmed Belkhodja. Established in 2013, the atelier works with methodic optimism on a wide range of projects, from territories to birdhouses.

Filipe Magalhães (Porto, 1987) graduated in architecture at faculdade de arquitectura do Porto and Fakulteta za Arhitekturo in Ljubljana; wrote the thesis ‘between the abstract and the figurative’. Worked with Harry Gugger in Basel and Aanaa in Tokyo. Visiting professor at Bratislava’s faculty of architecture.

Ana Luisa Soares (Porto, 1988) graduated in architecture at faculdade de arquitectura do Porto and Tokyo university; wrote the thesis ‘The matter of ideas’. Worked with Harry Gugger in Basel and Toyo Ito in Tokyo. Visiting professor at Bratislava’s faculty of architecture.

Ahmed Belkhodja (Lausanne, 1990) graduated in architecture at ETH Zurich after having also studied in Lausanne, Gothenburg and Singapore; worked with Harry Gugger in Basel, Obra architects in New York, and Atelier Bow-wow in Tokyo.
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Published on: December 28, 2016
Cite: "From garage into dwelling by Fala Atelier" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/garage-dwelling-fala-atelier> ISSN 1139-6415
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