An exercise in singularity as much as an exercise in banality. Suspended house by Fala Atelier
06/02/2023.
[Porto] Portugal
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
In an artery connecting Porto’s city centre to its suburbs, where individual houses are being demolished daily to leave place for bigger housing developments, architecture practice fala atelier was commissioned to design "Suspended House", a private dwelling home with a peculiar façade, stemmed from a fragile ambiguity of typologies.
The exterior look of "Suspended house", and its elevations, arose from a conjugation between a rational order, and its superimposition on a set of apparently disordered elements: a world of rows of windows, erratic marble pediments, apparently arbitrary downpipes, and pink marble discs that unbalance the composition. "The house is an exercise in singularity as much as an exercise in banality."
The exterior look of "Suspended house", and its elevations, arose from a conjugation between a rational order, and its superimposition on a set of apparently disordered elements: a world of rows of windows, erratic marble pediments, apparently arbitrary downpipes, and pink marble discs that unbalance the composition. "The house is an exercise in singularity as much as an exercise in banality."
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by fala atelier.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by fala atelier.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Giulietta Margot.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by fala atelier.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by fala atelier.
Rendering. Suspended house by Fala Atelier.
Rendering. Suspended house by Fala Atelier.
Rendering. Suspended house by Fala Atelier.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Frederico Martinho
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Frederico Martinho
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by fala atelier.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by fala atelier.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Giulietta Margot
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Ivo Tavares Studio.
Floor plans. Suspended house by Fala Atelier.
fala atelier designed the house with three levels, and the street access is in the middle one. Inside, develops this concept and built a levitating column that functions as a hinge and organises each level into four equivalent quadrants, where programs fluid in this static frame according to the life dynamics of its residents
Fixed or flexible programs uniformly occupy these quadrants, leaving residents free to determine their uses. "The house is a static frame for the changing dynamics of life. Its central column is a condensing, symbolical element, a substratum of these dynamics. Its shape is arbitrary and exuberant, providing distinct perspectives to each room. A collection of blue doors interconnect different rooms and adorn the column like superhero capes," continues fala atelier.
The protagonistic column shows its levitation a few centimetres from the ground on the lower level, revealing the fragility of the entire structure, the banality of our lives.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Fixed or flexible programs uniformly occupy these quadrants, leaving residents free to determine their uses. "The house is a static frame for the changing dynamics of life. Its central column is a condensing, symbolical element, a substratum of these dynamics. Its shape is arbitrary and exuberant, providing distinct perspectives to each room. A collection of blue doors interconnect different rooms and adorn the column like superhero capes," continues fala atelier.
The protagonistic column shows its levitation a few centimetres from the ground on the lower level, revealing the fragility of the entire structure, the banality of our lives.
Suspended house by Fala Atelier. Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Project description by Fala Atelier
In an artery connecting the city centre to its suburbs, where individual houses are being demolished daily to leave place for bigger housing developments, conceiving a new individual house is a delicate task. The façades of the project stemmed from a rough conjugation of both building types, sitting in a fragile ambiguity. A rational order, following the logic of the plans, is superimposed with a set of seemingly inordinate elements: row windows, erratic marble frontons, seemingly arbitrary drainpipes and pink marble discs unbalancing the composition. The house is an exercise of uniqueness as much as it is an exercise of banality.
The interior follows similar policies. An off-centred column functions as a hinge and divides each level into four equivalent quadrants. There are three levels and the street access is on the middle one. Fixed or flexible programs uniformly occupy these quadrants leaving the uses, to the user. The house is a static frame for the changing dynamics of life. Its central column is a condensing, symbolical element, a substratum of these dynamics. Its shape is arbitrary and exuberant, providing distinct perspectives to each room. A collection of blue doors interconnect different rooms and adorn the column like superhero capes.
On the lower level, undivided and open to the garden, the column levitates a few centimetres from the ground. The floor under it is therefore easy to clean, and the fragility of the entire structure is revealed. A house is always a mental construction before anything else.
More information
Architects
Project team
Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares, Ahmed Belkhodja, Lera Samovich, Costanza Favero, Ana Lima, Joana Sendas, Paulo Sousa.
Area
270 m².
Dates
2017-2020.
Location
Porto, Portugal
Photography
Fala. Paulo Catrica, Laurian Ghinitoiu, Giulietta Margot, Frederico Martinho, Ivo Tavares Studio.
Atelier Fala
Fala Atelier is a naïve architecture practice based in Porto, led by Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares and Ahmed Belkhodja. Established in 2013, the atelier works with methodic optimism on a wide range of projects, from territories to birdhouses.
Filipe Magalhães (Porto, 1987) graduated in architecture at faculdade de arquitectura do Porto and Fakulteta za Arhitekturo in Ljubljana; wrote the thesis ‘between the abstract and the figurative’. Worked with Harry Gugger in Basel and Aanaa in Tokyo. Visiting professor at Bratislava’s faculty of architecture.
Ana Luisa Soares (Porto, 1988) graduated in architecture at faculdade de arquitectura do Porto and Tokyo university; wrote the thesis ‘The matter of ideas’. Worked with Harry Gugger in Basel and Toyo Ito in Tokyo. Visiting professor at Bratislava’s faculty of architecture.
Ahmed Belkhodja (Lausanne, 1990) graduated in architecture at ETH Zurich after having also studied in Lausanne, Gothenburg and Singapore; worked with Harry Gugger in Basel, Obra architects in New York, and Atelier Bow-wow in Tokyo.
Filipe Magalhães (Porto, 1987) graduated in architecture at faculdade de arquitectura do Porto and Fakulteta za Arhitekturo in Ljubljana; wrote the thesis ‘between the abstract and the figurative’. Worked with Harry Gugger in Basel and Aanaa in Tokyo. Visiting professor at Bratislava’s faculty of architecture.
Ana Luisa Soares (Porto, 1988) graduated in architecture at faculdade de arquitectura do Porto and Tokyo university; wrote the thesis ‘The matter of ideas’. Worked with Harry Gugger in Basel and Toyo Ito in Tokyo. Visiting professor at Bratislava’s faculty of architecture.
Ahmed Belkhodja (Lausanne, 1990) graduated in architecture at ETH Zurich after having also studied in Lausanne, Gothenburg and Singapore; worked with Harry Gugger in Basel, Obra architects in New York, and Atelier Bow-wow in Tokyo.
