Dom Jorge House

This project restores and renovates a house of Portuguese eclectic style, with a strong influence from the traditional architecture of Aveiro, built between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in the historic Beira-Mar neighbourhood, in the centre of Aveiro, on a street that gives its name to the project.

The aim of the project was to give the house a new lease of life, without compromising its original style.
It was therefore essential to fully preserve the front façade, which was clearly more elaborate and strongly influenced by the Portuguese decorative tradition, with the use of geometric patterned tiles on the lower part of the façade, which were proposed for restoration.
On the other hand, we decided to completely remove the mosaic tiles from the upper part of the façade, which had been result of changes over time and were considered to be out of keeping with the original style and an unfortunate choice for the whole. Removing them also allows for better restoration of the façade plaster, ensuring its durability.The stonework, cornice and other ornate elements of this façade were kept and restored in their entirety.
The imposing central door was kept and treated, being only proposed with a natural wood finish, in a dark tone, without paint, in order to be consistent with the original style, while still maintaining the worked glass.
On the other hand, all the windows were replaced with new elements, with an original design, and also made of wood, but painted white, to make the whole thing lighter and more durable, but with double glazing, to ensure better thermal comfort.

On this façade, however, there is one element that catches our attention and which serves as inspiration for work on the rear façade, namely the small wrought iron railings, whose decorative motif implies the transition from Eclecticism to Art Nouveau.

This house features typical characteristics of Portuguese residential urban architecture of that period, not only on the front façade but also in the interiors. Therefore, the intervention was cautious in the proposed changes, aiming to modify as little as possible, ensuring the proper maintenance of the compartments and their interior finishes.

Despite the respect for the interiors, their chromatic transformation is proposed, where all the carpentry, namely skirting boards, frames and shutters of the interior openings, friezes, boiseries and other decorative elements, are treated and painted white, a colour that is also chosen for the vast majority of the walls and ceilings of the house. The exception to this rule is the living room, which is proposed entirely in terracotta colour, with the aim of providing warmth and enveloping surroundings.
The natural pine flooring is maintained throughout the house, only requiring the appropriate treatment and subsequent matt varnishing. In turn, new false ceilings are added, in plasterboard, since the house did not have plasterwork on the ceilings, thus ensuring better thermal comfort and technical accessibility for pipes and wiring.

As for the significant changes to the interior, they are limited to the demolition of 2 walls on the 1st floor, to create a decent space for the common area (dining room and kitchen), as well as the construction of new plasterboard walls to create 1 toilet on the 1st floor and 2 bathrooms on the 2nd floor, in order to meet the programmatic expectations (4 bedrooms + 2 working areas).

Despite this, the contemporary intervention manifests itself at the back of the house, through the option of demolishing the pre-existing illegal annexes and completely transforming the rear façade and its courtyard.
Here, the difference in floor levels between the two intended platforms is resolved – one for living, at the level of the house; and another for parking the car, at the level of the street – through terraces over vegetation that create a pleasant path through the garden until reaching the house.
These landings, covered in beige roman strip, arranged in a herringbone pattern, reflect the comfortable and serene atmosphere of this outdoor space, which was designed to complement the use of the house. The presence of vegetation on the ground, as well as in raised flowerbeds, allows for a verdant landscape from the house, despite the drop of more than 1m from the terrain. This elevation of the flowerbeds also allows vehicles to be hidden, assuming a more natural environment for the perspective from the house.
The rear façade, which had been subject to interventions over the years, was cleaned up, with the elimination of openings and walls of poor quality (in the form of a canopy), as well as the correction of the scale and positioning of other openings.

The demolition of these elements allowed the creation of a balcony for the bedrooms, in a negative volume, and a new balcony was added in a positive volume, both with wrought iron railings and with design inspired by the iron elements of the front façade, all in corten colour, in order to ensure that despite being recent, this intervention respects the original front façade, integrating it into a single architectural proposal.
Dom Jorge House is being renovated as a whole, where the history of its evolution remains hand in hand.