The building is located in a historic area, with the main facade facing Mouzinho da Silveira street. It occupies the entire lot, confining its back to Banharia street. The lot has a very typical configuration in Porto, long depth and narrow facades, opening, in these a large area of spans. The side gables are in 28 centimetres thick granite stone, without openings. The roof features a gabled roof with the ridge line parallel to the facades with some lanterns.
The entire building was in good state of conservation, with the last intervention projected in a reinforced concrete structure, even on the roof slab, carried out by the “Cooperativa dos Pedreiros” Stone workers Cooperative. The program consisted of basement, ground floor, four floors and a mezzanine in the roof span.
The intention fits in a recovery format with new a program integration, without changing the structure, its stability, height or shape of the façade and roofs, as well as the façade materials and elements, replacing the original elements. The window frames were replaced in enameled wood, at the ground/floor level where there were aluminum doors.
The aim was to eliminate the dissonance on the facade, painting the window frames uniformly in all the openings, proceeding naturally with the proper replacement of some elements in poor condition and recovery, finishing with enamel paints restoring the original tone.
Four new skylights are opened on the roof for the mezzanine and others with little architectural relevance are closed.
The licensing pursuits the use change. The installation of kitchen compartments and due to the smoke-removing system, new interior compartmentation for the creation of bathrooms, changing rooms, etc., which allow a better functioning of the activities that are now intended to be implemented.
A program of functionality and suitability of the space was elaborated, taking full advantage of the structural elements and the vertical accesses as the elevator and, of course, the existing stairs, which articulate the accesses and define this program, so that a safe and legal use can be proposed of all spaces.
The program is composed of T0 and T0duplex typologies, with a view to the cenario of local accommodation. The trade store was not subject to any alteration or intervention.