Three Porto Architects Live and Work Together in One Playfully Pragmatic Building

The cofounders of Fala Atelier strike a new work/life balance while renovating a 1930s building.

Jul 13, 2022 - 22:17
Three Porto Architects Live and Work Together in One Playfully Pragmatic Building

The cofounders of Fala Atelier strike a new work/life balance while renovating a 1930s building.

Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares, Ahmed Belkhodja and Lera Samovich stand outside their renovated homes and office in Porto, Portugal.

Over the course of the pandemic, the relationship between work and home life became fraught and complicated for many people around the world. But for the three cofounders of Porto’s Fala Atelier, very little changed: They live and work in the same building, which they renovated themselves.

Ana Luisa Soares shares the top-floor apartment with Filipe Magalhães.

"All of our career is about us giving stupid answers to logical questions, and being at the right place at the right time," Filipe Magalhães says in a cool-headed deadpan as he settles in around a table in the office kitchen. Across the table is his partner, Ana Luisa Soares, who cofounded the architecture studio with Filipe and Ahmed Belkhodja in 2013. Also present is Lera Samovich, who first worked for Fala as an intern in 2014, before joining the team permanently in 2016. She’s now a partner in the firm—although she lives off-site.

The living room is one of six rooms attached to the central hallway in the top-floor unit.
A staircase rises from the street all the way to the top floor.

See the full story on Dwell.com: Three Porto Architects Live and Work Together in One Playfully Pragmatic Building
Related stories:

Read More at Dwell