Balancing Materials’ Emotional Temperature: Alfornelos Apartment in Lisbon by Miguel Marcelino.

Designed by Miguel Marcelino, this typical old and narrow two bedroom apartment in the Lisbon suburb of Amadora was in need of a clever renovation. The clients, a young couple with a toddler and a newborn baby, were looking for a home that could embrace the growth of their burgeoning family.

The aim was to make the interactions of daily life richer through a fluid and intercommunicating social zone between kitchen, living room and access to the bedrooms. “I like the fluidity that we achieved in the social area where you can watch tv, eat, cook,
study, all in harmony. You’re never faced against a wall, you cook facing your family in the sitting area, you wash dishes facing your neighbourhood from the apartment’s 6h floor window,” says the principal architect Marcelino.

In the innermost zone, a compartment was added that intends to function as a one-stop-shop for the children’s only-room. Within it can be a dressing room, play space, shoe rack, or even a toilet, thanks to the hidden washbasin in the closet. This wooden box with no set function helped future proof the modest home as the family begins to grow.

The bare concrete of the existing structure was left visible and complemented with wood, stone and steel. It was important to balance the emotional temperature of the material, warm with cold, while the soft palette now benefits from the natural light that now intersects the space more generously. Achieving a warm and comfortable atmosphere, Miguel Marcelino has devised an interior that welcomes and accepts the typical messiness that comes along with small children and a busy daily routine.

Miguel Marcelino is an architect that lives and works in Lisbon. He collaborated with Herzog & de Meuron and Bonell & Gil, before establishing his own studio in 2008, winning that same year his first public competition. His built work covers the most varied scales and programs, from small private houses to large public buildings.

Related: Democratising the Family Home: Rua Maria Apartment in Lisbon by BUREAU.

[Images courtesy of Miguel Marcelino. Photography by Lourenço T. Abreu.]