Casa na Rua São Francisco de Boria

Located in the Lapa neighborhood, next to the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, this house is built on a narrow and long plot, measuring approximately 7m x 26m. Originally the plot was occupied by a small industrial pavilion, which was entirely removed to make way for the new house. The idea of building a house integrated into a block—where only the façade relates to the city and its context—is a theme that has always been part of Bak Gordon’s thinking. How do you build a house with the language of its time that simultaneously respects and enhances the virtues of the place? The façade reveals this concern by letting the internal environments of the house echo outward. On the ground floor, the access door and garage door are developed as a wooden grid, offering glimpses of a ventilated interval between interior and exterior. At the dining room level, a single window punctuates the façade. On the living room floor, a subtracted space creates a small garden/flower box, softening the transition between inside and outside. The house unfolds along the length of the plot across two primary volumes that share a common patio, accessible from a loggia clad entirely in handmade tiles. In a kind of promenade, the house reveals itself in multiple directions—horizontally between the more private bedroom and office spaces, and vertically through the social spaces—culminating at the roof terrace, where panoramic views over the Tagus River open up. The combination of exposed concrete on façades and ceilings, green handmade tiles, anodized aluminum frames, and thermo-modified wood on the main façade gives the building a strong personality and contributes to the atmosphere of the place.