Conde Building

The project stems from the rehabilitation of a late 19th-century residential building on Rua do Conde, in Lisbon. The intervention seeks to reconcile two temporalities: preserving the existing building's urban presence while adapting its interior to contemporary ways of living. The main facade retains its composition, openings, stonework, guardrails, and tile cladding, concentrating transformation on the rear elevation and the building’s interior.

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The original layout, characterized by small, successive rooms, is reconfigured into five apartments—four two-bedroom units and one one-bedroom unit—offering larger spaces, enhanced continuity, and improved natural light. The common staircase, traditional tiles, shutters, woodwork, and other elements uncovered during construction are restored and reinstated, remaining as fragments of the building's domestic memory.

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On the rear facade, the intervention adopts a more abstract language. New openings and balconies establish a direct connection with the garden and bring light into the interior spaces, without competing with the historic character of the street frontage. On the top floor, the expansion of the dormer window converts the former attic into a light-filled home, opening onto a terrace overlooking the city.

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Between conservation and alteration, the project does not seek to freeze the pre-existing structure, but rather to extend its lifespan: it recognizes what should remain, transforms what no longer answers to modern use, and establishes continuity between materiality, memory, and contemporary living.