Lapa | Manuel Tojal Studio

LAPA APARTMENT

Located in Bairro da Lapa, Lisbon, the apartments were at different stages of conservation. One of the apartments had a recent renovation; the other one was practically at its original condition.
The challenge of this project was to join the two apartments of small areas and spaces and transform them into one apartment, without losing their identity and giving them a contemporary functionality and experience. For this, the intervention had as a premise to focus the social area to the garden, the bedrooms to the opposite side, and the only room that remained interior was coated with a wood panel that brings the outside light to the interior without losing privacy.
The library has a double function as it acts as an entrance area of the house and as a connection to the living room, and the light in this space come into through the original doors’ spans. The large volume of wood, the fireplace, divides the living room from the kitchen, which extends to the outside and becomes a barbecue.
The apartment opens entirely into the garden through a large window, and the garden is split by a structural wall redesigned as if it were a sculpture.

The materials used were chosen to take into consideration the identity of the space, so Lioz Marble was used in the bathrooms, the wood pavement in the bedrooms and the concrete in the social area. Also, the plywood was applied to make the transition from wood to the concrete, giving more comfort to the living area.
The apartment is thus open to the outside, being entirely projected into the garden ensuring that the boundary between exterior and interior is attenuated.