• Bairro Gomes da Costa

    Porto

journal

Photography: Francisco Ascensão 
26 / 11 / 2024
A home for several families, the Marechal Gomes da Costa neighbourhood in Porto is the site of a new project by architects Francisco Ascensão, José Luís Tavares, and Patrícia Morais. 
Designed in 1947, the former Marechal Gomes da Costa Economic Housing Estate is known for its semi-detached houses, arranged two by two, each with two floors and pitched roofs. The project to extend one of the neighbourhood's properties was handed over to Francisco Ascensão, José Luís Tavares, and Patrícia Morais, motivated by the growth of the family living there.

The (re)construction of this single-family home included the addition of a new volume—a mixed concrete and wood structure with a flat roof and lower ceilings than the original eaves. This volume appears as an extension of the façade alignments, connecting to an existing annexe (which was modified in this project).

This intervention gave the façades a new texture, resulting from the stereotomy of the exposed concrete blocks covering the building. It simultaneously promoted a dialogue of continuity and a clear distinction between the original building and the extension.

Even so, the façades of the house are marked by occasional concrete elements: a canopy that protects the door of a new entrance, a slab that connects the new volume to the existing outbuilding, and the lintels of the upper-floor windows. The dimensions of these openings replicate the proportions of the windows already present in the house but in a different material: anodised aluminium rather than painted wood.

Despite the extension, the original house's compartmentalisation scheme remained practically intact. Through demolition, deletion, and cuts in masonry and carpentry, it was possible to reduce the differences in the altimetry and planimetry of the two volumes, allowing the spaces to adapt to the complex's new functions. These operations redefined the language of the interior divisions between the original elements and the more recent ones. In the new volume, the exposed wooden and concrete structures distinguish themselves from the other rooms.

Through this project, this house has reinvented itself, adapted to the new times, and grown. But its essence has remained: an Economical house that will always be part of the neighbourhood. 
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
  • Bairro Gomes da Costa
For more information visit Francisco Ascensão
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