Right at the heart of Oporto’s Oriental Neibourghood (Barrio Oriental), the most economicaly and socialy depressed part of the city, the project gives a new hope for a couple of coal warehouses. The objective of Loft Miraflor (LMF) is to rehabilitate and refunction a centenary warehouse for dwelling purposes.
The project takes in account some specific particularities of this long, narrow and double heighted building where everything can happen. Without changing its morpho-tipology, the idea is to “simply” hang-up 6 wooden boxes in between the roof trusses in order to maximize the area for social interaction on the ground floor.
On the ground floor, the 31m long warehouse is colonized by the social areas like living-room, kitchen, dining-room and, at the end, a patio. These functional areas naturally share the open plan of the loft in a way that they continuously succeed each other with no phisical barriers.
On the wooden mezzanines, up on the air and hovering over the social areas, are located the private areas allowing the zenital light to come down to the social areas due to the voids in between them. This also enables the vertical comunication with the first floor which is assured by three elicoidal stairs that conects the rooms to the first floor. Each room has its own private wc and window on the roof.
LMF Loft Miraflor, Oporto, Portugal
Architect: Alexandre Loureiro
Engineering: SOPSEC
Area: 318 sqm
Year: 2013
Current state: under construction