Perched on a Portuguese Hilltop, an Inspiring Studio Lets Creativity Take Flight
Portuguese architecture firm Madeiguincho found inventive uses for windows and wood to create space for creating—or just relaxing.
Portuguese architecture firm Madeiguincho found inventive uses for windows and wood to create space for creating—or just relaxing.
Before Covid shut almost everything down, artist Amélia Marta of Cascais, Portugal, used to rent studio space in various local workshops. But when the pandemic struck, like people the world over, she was forced to get flexible and began working out of her living room. It wasn’t ideal. "I was limited in terms of tools and space—not to mention the mess I was making," she says.
Visual artist Amélia Marta enlisted Portuguese architecture firm Madeiguincho to design a space where she could stargaze, make art, or just sit and think. To create the multipurpose but still economical interior, the designers got inventive with windows and wood.
Photo by Joāo Carranca
The translucent timber-frame eastern facade lets in diffuse light perfect for painting.
Photo by Joāo Carranca
After weeks of stepping around paint canvases, glazing brushes, and metal scraps, Amélia—a painter, ceramicist, and jewelry maker—began imagining a workspace of her own and inquired about who designed the modest yoga studio she frequented.
The artist learned that the architects were from local firm Madeiguincho, led by Gonçalo Marrote. She commissioned Marrote and two of his colleagues, João Brás Nogueira Filipe and Nicholas Sartori Gennari, to design a roughly 270-square-foot studio on a hilltop overlooking the coastal town’s red-tile roofs and the Atlantic’s blue-green waves.
A north-facing skylight illuminates a counter for metalworking, while, along the western wall, a built-in birch plywood bench provides a place for Amélia to rest. The light is from B.K.Licht.
Photo by Joāo Carranca
See the full story on Dwell.com: Perched on a Portuguese Hilltop, an Inspiring Studio Lets Creativity Take Flight
