DE LA ESPADA VOLUME IV 53
In the 5th floor apartment, home to our Porto
Residency, the rich materials wrap the visitor
in a relaxed refinement, from the abundant use of
wood, to the swathes of marble and the intricate
bronze detailing. These noble materials from 70
years ago sit beautifully with De La Espada fur-
niture, more contemporary in form yet mirroring
a similar quality of materials and Portuguese
craft. As one explores the apartment, exciting
details reveal themselves including curved door
frames and, Joana’s favourite, a curved sash win-
dow with a copper frame in the front bedroom: “I
love this window and the details of how it works
and the fact that it still works perfectly — I
think that’s amazing.”
When Joana and her team set out to renovate the
apartments, their starting point was “studying
the building, the story of the building, the
construction system, materials... and we also
tried to understand how it works and the state
of conservation.” They needed to maintain the
apartments’ function of private housing while
ensuring they were suitable as rentable holiday
accommodation. With deep respect for the origi-
nal architects and the importance of the design
in the history of Portuguese architecture, the
award-winning Atelier in.vitro refreshed and em-
braced as much of the original as possible, while
quietly introducing new elements that seem as
if they were always there. Most of the materials
were rehabilitated rather than replaced, with the
wooden floors in the rooms and living rooms, the
marble tiles, the mosaics and the ceramic ele-
ments in the bathrooms all original.
