Former Lisbon Palace Transformed into a Grand Apartment by rar. studio.

This is not the first time we are featuring the work of Rita Aguiar Rodrigues of rar.studio. Lisbon-based architectural practice engages in a diverse range of projects ranging from places, objects, research and critical thinking. Their recent project, Apartment Palatina I, had us gasping for air after we were recently sent the images which were so beautifully captured by photographer Francisco Nogueira.

Palatina is a small palace built in the centre of Lisbon in the mid-20th century, designed in the signature Português Suave style by Architect Carlos Rebelo de Andrade. Originally conceived to serve the purpose of a single-family residence, the building was converted into four distinct apartments earlier this century.

Apartment Palatina I occupies the main first floor of this spectacular mansion, the former location of the social areas that once housed a hall, office, billiard room, small living room, drawing room, pantry, dining hall and greenhouse. The interior respectively draws upon the magnificent ostentatiousness of the spatial generosity, and superb materials and original decorative detailing.

The client sought to modernise the apartment and reinforce its domestic dimension. They tasked rar.studio with transforming the grandiose space into a more habitable one, all the while conserving its spatial structure and the original materials and finishes via a highly measured and edited approach.

“The challenge resulted in an acupunctural intervention,” explains Rita Aguiar Rodrigues.

The greenhouse got converted into an external space, enabling the entrance of natural light into the sombre far eastern section of the apartment. This approach created a balanced approach to the living room areas while preserving the extraordinary 19th-century tile panel. Acting as the hero of the space, the tiles now stand conveniently illuminated, bestowing the living space with reflections that also minimise the interior/exterior transition.

“The kitchen and bathrooms were subject to the same capillary strategy”, says Rodrigues. “Through the considered integration of new design, the space sits in alignment with the existing stone pavements and tiled walls.”