Atelier Local redesigns House in Valongo to "feel larger than it actually is"
Cork cladding, curved ceilings and mirrored surfaces animate this holiday home in Portugal, renovated by Atelier Local to feel spacious despite its compact plot.
Named House in Valongo after the city near Porto in which it is located, the 70-square-metre home occupies a split-level site flanked by two much larger buildings.
Rather than extensively remodelling or expanding the structure, Atelier Local took an "as-found" approach, accompanied by a series of small alterations to make the home feel more spacious.
"When our clients bought this house, they were not sure what to do with it, except they would need two rooms – one for sleeping and one for working," studio founders João Paupério and Maria Rebelo told Dezeen.
"We are deeply convinced that it is our task to convince the people who hire us to build less and less," added Paupério and Rebelo.
"The main idea behind the design was to transform a rather small row house so that it would feel generously sized, but without the need for an extension," they continued. "Together, these gestures mean that, although located in the city, the house feels like a simpler holiday home, all year round."
Externally, House in Valongo has been updated with cork cladding on its rear elevation, chosen to help insulate the home.
At the end of the garden, a storage area has been finished with a corrugated polycarbonate roof and an entirely mirrored facade.
Atelier Local's largest design change was flipping House in Valongo's existing interior layout, positioning a bedroom, study and bathroom on the lower level and the dining and kitchen area above.
The entrance leads directly into the lower level, where a small hall alongside a new staircase features white walls with red accents, a mint-green ceiling and a mirrored bathroom door at the far end.
"The house is 'upside down' – this means that when you enter it, the entrance hall is also the bedroom hall," explained Paupério and Rebelo. "Its eccentric geometry is related to mobility but also to the will of making it feel larger than it actually is."
"This feeling is achieved through its relationship with a mirrored bathroom door and the staircase leading upwards, towards a very tall ceiling," they added.
On the ground floor, the living space is organised around a compact timber "utility core" and a hidden toilet. Above, an undulating plaster ceiling has been designed to mimic a fabric tent, resting on a newly inserted roof truss and green-painted beams.
At the rear of the home, the studio has inserted a timber access deck perched on octagonal concrete columns that creates a direct, elevated route from the living space. Previously, access to the garden was only possible via a stone staircase from the lower level.
In keeping with Atelier Local's "as-found" approach, the formwork for these octagonal concrete columns was salvaged from a previous project by fellow Portuguese practice Fala Atelier.
Based in Valongo, Atelier Local was founded by Paupério and Rebelo in 2019. Previous projects by the studio include a home on a nature reserve near Porto that was informed by brutalist architecture.
Other cork-clad homes recently featured on Dezeen include a 1970s house in Tottenham reimagined by Nina+Co and ROAR Architects and an alley house in Washington DC by BLDUS.
The photography is by Francisco Ascensão.
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