© Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Wood Structure Inside Stone Walls by Corpo Atelier

Lisbon-based architecture and art studio Corpo Atelier has completed a amazing refurbishment project located in Sernancelhe, they restructured an old stone building into a comtemporary loft living space.

Architects: Filipe Paixão / Corpo Atelier
Location: Sernancelhe, Viseu, Portugal
Photographs: Ricardo Oliveira Alves

© Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Four thick stone walls are the remaining elements of an ancient rural house, a traditional pitched roof is placed to cover the top of the box.

© Ricardo Oliveira Alves
© Ricardo Oliveira Alves
© Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Inside, the wood structure is expanded vertically, trespassing the house in all its dimension, both dividing and hierarchizing the space. The habitable areas then occupy the interstices of this clearly defined geometry of wood pillars and beams.

© Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Bedrooms and bathrooms take place in three independent volumes embedded in the structure, hanging from the roof. The social areas occur at the ground floor, organized around the pillars.

© Ricardo Oliveira Alves
© Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Inspiration from architects:

The vertical pillar extends to the far heavens. The horizontal beam extends to somewhere unknown.
People dwell where the vertical and the horizontal intersect, awed by trees, fearing beasts and groping for their coordinates.
— Shuntaro Tanikawa