GILBERT APARTMENT
Since we visited the apartment for the first time, we realized that it was an uninteresting pre-existence.
When faced with this evidence, we immediately wanted to create a “blank canvas” where the project would begin to be designed. Thus, much of the interior was demolished and by adapting the program (2 suites, 1 toilet and social area with kitchen) we wanted on the one hand to highlight structural poverty through the pre-existing beam and on the other to propose more noble and harmless finishes in a clear provocation to pre-existence.
One of the premises of the program was to have space for a collection of rugby balls. This premise ended up giving the apartment its name, here in a clear identity claim for the project.
Taking into account the small area, we designed a toilet that is incorporated in a bathroom of a suite allowing a versatility in its use. The living room and kitchen are inserted in the same space and the windows incorporated inside the shelves like "two eyes" for the outside. The bathroom of the master suite is assumed to be a natural lamp into the room and its “voyeur” experience is also a provocation to the traditional way in which we live this space.
The circular mirror in front of the window is the allegory of this project since it is an element that makes the transition between the outside and the inside in an ironic and subtle way.
If, on the one hand, we worked on the concept of voyeurism, on the other hand, when someone would expect to be in direct observation of the urban landscape through the window, a delicate and circular mirror, that reflects the image of itself and hides the view out what goes on inside. We only see ourselves when we see the outside, the outside never seeing us.

 
LOCATION  .  Rua dos Arneiros, Lisbon, Portugal
CONCLUDED  .  2020
CLIENT  .  PRIVATE
CONSTRUCTION AREA  .  60m2
ARCHITECTURE  .   Manuel Cachão Tojal- Principal
Francisca Patuleia Figueiras
CONTRACTOR  .   Betalist
PHOTOGRAPHY   .  Francisco Nogueira