(CHALET RECIFE)

Chalet Recife is situated in São João do Estoril, next to Azarujinha beach, to which it has private access via a staircase ‘carved’ into the cliff.​

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Originally built in 1901, it forms part of the historic residential area and urban centre of heritage value comprising five iconic villas along the coastline.​

It is a testament to the early decades of the 20th century, reflecting the trend for building palatial homes along the coastline.

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The  intervention aimed to improve the interior functional layout, interfering as little as possible with the main floor, by creating an internal staircase connecting the three floors (previously segregated), thereby improving living conditions and health standards on the top floor and, above all, on the ground floor.​

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The work on the roof enabled the creation of a terrace with a privileged view of the sea, without any alteration to the roof’s volume on the façades facing the urban context, thereby safeguarding the building’s overall identity.

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The intervention adheres to the principles of authenticity and compatible use, having been guided, wherever possible, by a principle of minimal intervention. It embodies the characteristics of holiday home architecture, safeguarding the origins of the existing structure and its historical and cultural significance.

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"PAINTING TO SEE THE SKIES

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Drill two holes into a canvas.

Hang it where you can see the sky.

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(Change the place of hanging.

Try both the front and the rear

windows, to see if the skies are

different.)

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1961    summer"

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Yoko Ono. Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings. Tóquio: Wunternaum Press, 1964.