Estefânia 87

Located in the Estefânia neighbourhood of Lisbon, on Rua José Estêvão, the main challenge of this project was its location in relation to the block. It is part of a building, starting on the ground floor (street level) but extending into the interior of the block in a staircase-like silhouette.

This particular morphology of the fraction offers advantages in terms of privacy and distance from street noise, given that the intention is to change the use of services to housing. On the other hand, however, it poses the challenge of complying with the mandatory distances for housing within a block with tight spaces in relation to adjacent buildings.

In this sense, the strategy involved continuing the staircase silhouette, but refined in relation to the mandatory distances and the creation of a generous lobby to bring light and cross ventilation to the three apartments that are designed.

The ground floor is a common area, with pedestrian and vehicle access, where the car park and vertical circulation providing access to the flats are located.

The apartments inside are designed to make the most of the existing reinforced concrete structure of pillars and beams. The exposed structure is embraced, and the different rooms are designed as independent boxes, creating a feeling of a larger and more spacious area.

The flats are designed with families in mind, and in this sense, we have tried to ensure that they have generous areas, convenient storage space and social areas such as a living room, dining room and kitchen with plenty of natural light. Each flat has an outdoor area – a rear terrace – for leisure activities that blends in with the social areas. The bedrooms or offices are located in the lobby area.

We have thus created three contemporary dwellings that can accommodate families, with space, storage, light and privacy, where the existing structure has been utilised and outdoor leisure areas have been created that add quality to each of the flats. The aim is also to create a sustainable building, with a green roof, shaded areas and good ventilation so that the building's thermal conditions are comfortable and do not require excessive expenditure on equipment to heat or cool the home. A project that responds to the client's briefing of also being able to contribute to the current housing shortage in Lisbon, in a very central area of the city.