Best of Residential Buildings
Casa na Rua Montebelo 59
Designer / Agency
- Alessandro Pepe
Category
- Residential Buildings
Award
- 2022 Innovation
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PROJECT
DESCRIPTION
This is a project for the restoration of a heritage-protected building in Foz Velha. It includes a doorway that belongs to a 14th-century construction, being cited in the classification municipal paper that this element is contemporary to the Castle of Foz. Medieval elements in the layered-by-time ruin strengthen the building's ownership of the value of antiquity.
Medieval European constructions that reached our times emphasised enclosure from the public space. Coincidentally, contemporary local architectural tendencies seem to emphasise enclosure. Therefore, the project is based on the purpose of maintaining this character of the exterior shape — solid appearance closed to the exterior, giving privacy and tranquility from an increasingly overburdened world.
The project of a double bedroom, single family house comprises the creation of a new floor with a generous terrace using much of the original granite complemented by travertine and wood. The use of natural materials with the interplay of shadow and light has created a 21st-century space with respect for the past, and an eye to the future.
Designer: Alessandro Pepe
Studied Architecture at DAD Politecnico di Torino (Italy) concluding his training with Luigi Snozzi in Monte Carasso (Switzerland). He has worked with Balkrishna Doshi in Ahmedabad (India) and Álvaro Leite Siza Vieira in Porto (Portugal) before opening his own practice.
He is a member of both the Northern Portugal Architects Association (OASRN) and Italian Architects Association of Turin (OAT).
His work has been recognized by several national and international publishing organizations such as Público, Archdaily, Anteprojectos, Divisare, Plataforma Arquitectura, Espaço de Arquitectura, Archello and Dezeen within others.
Agency: Alessandro Pepe Arquitecto
Architecture and spirit aren’t concrete entities, but ideal concepts: architecture is to building as spirit is to living.
Human beings formulated these concepts for the pursuit of emancipation from the transience of life. We human beings yearn for absoluteness since our science doesn’t give us absolute answers.
Architecture has materiality and a spirit.
Alessandro Pepe Arquitecto is located in Porto, Portugal. Our work is constituted by 70% of residential projects. 50% of our commissions include the restoration of existing buildings. Our influences mostly originate from historical European architecture (prominently from Italy that is the place where we started our activity) and contemporary architecture, mostly from Portugal.
