Saltar para o conteúdo principal da página
Combatentes House in Porto, the rear facade of the 1960s semi-detached house seen from the backyard, with shade sails and concrete planters

Combatentes House

A partitioned house, lived in once again as a single whole.

Porto, Portugal · 2014–2016
EN PT
Typology Residence
Size 360m2
Location Porto
Status Built
Project ID 14CAC

Simplifying the way of dwelling.

Combatentes House, Porto: street facade above the dark metal gate and a cobblestone pavement patternCombatentes House, Porto: close-up of the rendered facade with balcony and recessed windows

A house that showed the passage of time

The intervention in a semi-detached house, in a fully consolidated urban area of Porto, set out to simplify the way of dwelling. The property reflected the lifestyle of the 1960s, with heavily subdivided interiors and sealed-off areas that presupposed a stratified use of the house.

Combatentes House, Porto: long white corridor of the ground floor with a band of multicoloured hexagonal tilesCombatentes House, Porto: small washroom in a white volume off the hallway, staircase in the background

The entrance and the corridor, simplified

The ground floor holds the more public functions of the house, the living room, the dining room, the breakfast room and the kitchen, along with the stairwell that links the private floors above and below. The spaces were largely kept and updated, except for the entrance and the distribution corridor, where the partitioning was simplified and a small volume was created for a service facility this floor did not have

Combatentes House, Porto: upper landing under a large skylight, patterned parquet and a wooden handrailCombatentes House, Porto: distribution space of the bedroom floor around the stairwell, lit from above

A central space bathed in light

The upper floor was entirely updated and redesigned around the existing distribution space, which, given its qualities, we chose to preserve and enhance. Four bedrooms, one of them a suite, and a shared bathroom are arranged around this central space, bathed in intense natural light.

Combatentes House, Porto: multipurpose room on the lower floor with bookshelves, a sofa and high windows

The programme that completes the house

Below the social floor sits a small service area, with laundry and storage, along with some living spaces, a small office, a multipurpose room and a bedroom, which complete the functional programme of the house.

Combatentes House, Porto: breakfast room with a lime-green sideboard and multicoloured hexagonal tilesCombatentes House, Porto: living room with pale blue walls, two armchairs and framed pictures

A chromatic identity for each space

The intervention brings colour into the rooms, giving each a chromatic identity of its own and undoing the monotony that once made the existing interiors quite dark. The house is now crossed by light, which reaches every space and reflects its different shades.

Combatentes House, Porto: aerial view of the backyard with the pool open beside the deck and shade sailsCombatentes House, Porto: aerial view of the backyard with the sliding deck closed over the poolCombatentes House, Porto: wooden deck and lawn in the backyard, the annex and the rear facade behind

The archetype of a house, fused with the ground

In the backyard we proposed a small storage annex that takes the form of the archetypal house and fuses with the paving material, conveying an idea of continuity. The small garden also receives a pool with a sliding deck that covers it when not in use, extending the backyard and giving it greater versatility.

The light that crosses the house, from the street to the backyard.

Combatentes House, Porto: street facade of the semi-detached house behind a dark gate, over Portuguese cobblestone pavement
Combatentes House, Porto: entrance hall with a wooden staircase and parquet floor between grey walls
Combatentes House, Porto: white corridor with hexagonal tiles in blue, red and grey set into the wooden parquet
Combatentes House, Porto: dining area with a wooden table and black chairs, multicoloured hexagonal tiles leading to the corridor
Combatentes House, Porto: white kitchen with diamond-pane windows and a floor of multicoloured hexagonal tiles
Combatentes House, Porto: detail of a white plate rack with coloured enamel mugs hanging below
Combatentes House, Porto: living room with pale blue walls, two armchairs, a light rug and a gallery wall of framed pictures
Combatentes House, Porto: person climbing the wooden staircase past white built-in cupboards
Combatentes House, Porto: stairwell under a skylight, white walls and a wooden handrail
Combatentes House, Porto: landing with a small wooden desk beneath a framed picture
Combatentes House, Porto: lower-floor living room with a grey sofa and a row of high windows
Combatentes House, Porto: upper corridor with a patterned parquet floor beside the staircase and a brown sofa
Combatentes House, Porto: side passage between the house and a concrete wall leading to the backyard
Combatentes House, Porto: grey house-shaped storage annex in the backyard under a blue sky, a figure standing beside it
Combatentes House, Porto: backyard seen from the wooden deck, the rear facade beyond a grey wall and a shade sail
Combatentes House, Porto: wooden deck along the pool beside the grey wall of the annex and an old stone boundary wall
Combatentes House, Porto: house-shaped annex standing in the backyard beneath a beige shade sail
Combatentes House, Porto: aerial view of the house, its terracotta roof and the backyard with pool and white shade sails
Combatentes House, Porto: silhouette of a person adjusting a shade sail in the backyard, the annex behind
Combatentes House, Porto: low sun through a shade sail, the annex and the rear facade beyond

Full Credits

Principal Architects

  • Henrique Marques
  • Rui DInis

Architects

  • Mónica Pacheco
  • Marco Santos
  • Marta Silva
  • Tiago Maciel

Finance Director

  • Carla Duarte

Engineering

  • Adelino Correia, Engenharia

Photography

  • FG+SG®

Inspired by this project?

Let’s talk.

start a project

Other selected projects

explore our work

Covelo House

Porto, Portugal · 2017–2022

 Render of Paranhos House in Porto, a grey cantilevered box over a glazed ground floor beside a dark pool

Paranhos House

Porto, Portugal · 2022
Whatsapp