Apartments San Lazarus by Floret Arquitectura Project in Porto, Portugal

Project: Apartments San Lazarus
Architects: Floret Arquitectura
Location: Porto, Portugal
Area: 6,996 sq ft
Year: 2021
Photos by: Ivo Tavares Studio

Apartments San Lazarus by Floret Arquitectura Project

This residential building is located on a typical plot in the center of Porto, on Passagio de San Lazarus. The building has two facades: one faces Passagio de San Lazarus, and the other looks inward. There is also a small courtyard designated for one of the apartments.

The project involves demolishing existing interior spaces, which have been significantly altered, to reconstruct the building, restore the current facade, and extend it by two floors in order to hide the existing gable adjacent to a neighboring building. The proposed program includes 1 commercial unit (first floor) and 7 apartments – 6 T0 and 1 T1.

Preserving the Passagio de San Lazarus facade, the proposed extension defines a unified and simple design through window spacing and repetition to harmoniously integrate with its surroundings and previous buildings. The buildings do not have a regular rear alignment that can be used as reference. For this reason, we use the side facades as references, adjusting their alignment depending on the floor.

The rear facade is a result of this variation in alignment. Also, it is planned to demolish the enclave on the first floor, thus creating some green space at street level. The apartments are designed with a shared living and kitchen area, an independent bedroom, and sanitary facilities. The top two floors feature duplex apartments where the common zone is located on the entrance floor, and the most private part—the bedroom—is on the upper floor.

-Project description and images provided by Ivo Tavares Studio