Before & After: In Porto, a Tiny Home Emerges From Ruins
An abandoned workers’ home is revived using mirrors and a fresh lick of paint to appear larger than its 344 square feet.
An abandoned workers’ home is revived using mirrors and a fresh lick of paint to appear larger than its 344 square feet.
"For me, this was an opportunity to do things differently, to experiment," says architect Rui Dinis about the former workers’ home he bought in 2017 near Covelo Park, on the edge of central Porto, in Portugal.
The 344-square-foot house had originally formed part of a project known as urban islands, which were a common type of housing in the city from the 19th century onwards. They were composed of small, semidetached houses, usually with a door and a window facing the access corridor.
In the 1970s, the Portuguese government set about demolishing the urban islands and relocating their inhabitants to neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. While many were destroyed, some urban islands still remain "as part of the city’s memory," in Rui’s words.
"The house I bought could best be described as a ruin; I suspect it had been abandoned for about 15 years," admits Rui, who had initially intended to rent it out as a tourist apartment. Having completed the renovation in 2019, he ultimately sold the property in 2020, after the pandemic put paid to his Airbnb plans.
Before: Entry
The entrance to the original house led directly into the kitchen, with a wall separating it from the living room and staircase.
Photo by spaceworkers®
After: Entry
When Rui first bought the house, part of the ceiling had fallen down, so it was impossible to even go upstairs. He knocked down the wall separating the kitchen and dining/living room and created one large living space that also incorporates the striking green-and-black staircase.
Photo by Ivo Tavares
Due to the limited space, the side of the kitchen counter—made from medium-density fiberboard (MDF) from Valchromat and maintained in its original green color—was converted into the first five steps of the staircase. The second section of the staircase was made from 0.3-inch black sheet steel. It weighs half a ton, and Rui was surprised the wall was able to handle it.
"We enjoyed working with the light and contrasts," says Rui, adding: "Going upstairs at one point it’s like being in a black tunnel, until you start to reach the top and see the light flooding in through the bedroom windows."
Rui and his colleagues tried to stay true to the materials typically used in traditional Porto houses, like the pinewood floors, a feature found in many of the city’s homes from the 19th century. As for the ceiling, the plan had been to maintain the original wooden beams but they were too badly damaged, so he installed new Riga Wood beams instead.
Meanwhile, Italian Carrara marble was used for the kitchen counter and the top of the TV stand. The window shutters are made from the same MDF material as the kitchen counter, reflecting the green color scheme found throughout the house.
Before: Outdoor Toilet
Original workers’ houses did not have bathrooms or even a toilet. While the exact dates are not known, Rui suspects this one was built in the 1990s.
Photo by spaceworkers®
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: In Porto, a Tiny Home Emerges From Ruins
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