Get the best of Domus straight to your inbox!

Apartment in Coimbra

João Branco converts a former two floor office in a rental apartment. Using three pieces of furniture a small area, originally subdivided and dark, becomes an home.

Three pieces of furniture create a home.

The aim was to convert a former two floor office in a rental apartment. The proposal, which develops at the lower level, focuses on reconverting a small area, originally subdivided and dark, to accommodate the social areas of the house.

João Branco, apartment in Coimbra, Portugal

The intervention proposes to let the light flow, converting it into a diaphanous space and thus increasing the feeling of spaciousness. The main decision is not to build, intervening by dispensing with traditional construction work, in favor of a dry approach, much simpler, without creating new walls or divisions.

To that, the plant is emptied, introducing in the diaphanous space 3 wooden pieces of furniture that will organize the space.

Firstly, a box contains the kitchen and the bathroom. A piece of furniture with a bookcase and a table gives form to the the entrance and to a small office under the stairs. Finally, a movable lower furniture separates living and eating areas.

With only these three pieces, shape is given to the spaces of the house, always visually connected to maintain unity and flow of southern light. This work, closer to carpentry than building construction, focuses on the details and encounters. Reducing to a minimum the elements, fittings, switches, etc. the objects are designed to provide sobriety, resulting in a high degree of abstraction and giving the house enhanced spatial clarity.