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The apartments are long rectangular spaces with
two fronts: the service compartments oriented
toward the courtyard and the more noble rooms
facing the street. This hierarchy is reflected in
the materials palette, where premium woods were
used in the street-facing rooms while painted
woods were used in the service quarters. The
renovation respected this separation, with every
introduction of new materials taking this hier-
archy into consideration.
Small changes were also made to the layout of
the apartment to make it more suitable for modern
living. “Now few people have [in-home staff] so
we wanted to transform that bedroom and that area
of the bathroom into a more noble bedroom that
could be used by tourists,” Joana explains. This
change allowed the bedrooms to include ensuite
bathrooms.
