Casa Amarela | atelier RUA

This small 55 sqm apartment is based on a not so common layout, where the kitchen area is the hearth of the house and stands in the middle, working as a hallway connecting all the other spaces. 

There are also some significant elements like brick walls, lower height of the space, wooden doors and ceilings, typical for an old manner of construction in Alfama, Lisbon's ancient neighborhood.

The intervention kept walls and spaces in their original location and took advantage of their connection, using all the existing doors and creating new openings when necessary. Like this it's easy to change one area's function from a living room to a bedroom, updating the house to their inhabitants' needs.

The kitchen was organised to create a more clear division between the cooking zone and the circulation area. The cooking zone is completely visible and basically its only element is a large marble kitchen top that resembles yet another piece of furniture of the house.

Although nothing was demolished, the main concern was to visually separate the intervention from the existing part, but at the same time make a dialogue between them, through fresh and contemporary materials: the white/grey marble and the yellow epoxy painted floor, used in the wet areas. The yellow color helps reflecting natural light.