Casa Caldeireiros II

The city may be restored just as it was built: plot by plot. This project concludes the set of three adjacent buildings restored in Rua dos Caldeireiros, in an area undergoing a process of regeneration following several decades of lack of attention and investment. The intervention counters urban operations currently in progress in the centre of Porto which have reconfigured the original plots and replaced existing typologies with housing models more favourable to the property market, which are supposedly more suitable for modern ways of life.

The project is incremental: in this first phase, two apartments located on the upper floors of the building, the common areas and façade were restored. The main part of the building was linked to an annex located at the back of the building through a small patio. Some details were ‘uncovered’ during the restoration process, displaying remnants of construction systems and customs from yesteryear, delicately reinterpreted. The site is intended as an example showing that in the field of restoration a lot can be achieved with very little.