Renovation of an historic house in Leça da Palmeira, Heróis de África House by CREA

Description of project by CREA

Our project focused on the restoration of the Heróis de África house, a lot within the old and classified district of Leça da Palmeira, a seaside town close to Porto, in Portugal. Built in the 1930s, its sober architectural language reflects the constructive and stylistic options of the time as visible in the rectilinear design of the cornice and the stone masonry elements flanking the cast iron gate also incorporating a depurated decorative geometry. Having always served as a residence, the house has stone walls finished with traditional mortar and painting, painted wood framing, wooden slabs, pine flooring, and ceramic tiles in the roof. It endured some minor transformations and extensions along its way mainly visible at the old rear façade.

Looking to design a home for the Sizaret family of four, this project strived not only for the restoration but also for an extension of the pre-existing building as a way of achieving an area more suitable to the whole diversity of activities needed and requested. After research was concluded, that extension materialized in a pentagonal zinc-lined volume resembling the universal archetype of a house extruded from the back façade and widely into the garden. Working as a big living room, the whole area aggregates spaces like the kitchen, office (second floor) or the library (second floor).

Renovating its internal layout, we seeked an uncluttered approach regarding materials and “skins” with bare spaces and concrete ground flooring which emphasizes wooden elements. We also tried to achieve a wider spatial fluidity, promoting a constant dialogue between openness and privacy, shifting from luminous to more somber and intimate rooms. That is also visible in the two-storey living room and its relation with the outside garden, but also in the north part of the house where the integration of atelier, bedrooms and office connects with a small patio and the residence’s entrance.