CAS studio
Rehabilitation of a 100 years old apartment into CAS studio.
This project is a real scale model where the architects also worked as artisans, experimenting building techniques with natural materials, such as wood, earth and lime, steel. It is a space of reflection and experimentation that has become a prototype for new renovation projects in the city and a laboratory for the continued use of rapidly disappearing building materials and methods, which have been employed here to meet contemporary challenges, such as environmental impact and spatial comfort.
The building is located in a historic area of Lisbon that has functioned as a fishermen neighbourhood for centuries and its fabric is made of narrow and sloping streets.
The main building technologies used in this area are result of the post-earthquake (1755) and are their walls are made with limestone, grit, rubble and lime and the secondary bracing structure made with wooden beams.
During its more than 100 years old life, the building suffered several interventions that debilitated its structure, jeopardizing its stability.
Our first intervention was to reinforce and sustain the building and to create a sustainable model to the renovation to achieve a positive environmental and social impact using several disappearing crafts, traditional carpentry and natural building materials such as wood, earth, straw and lime that are low carbon emissivity. The result is a space made with materials and textures that are flexible, porous and breathable, following its main function of creating comfort among its inhabitants.
