Q36 Rehabilitation of Single Family House | Quanza
Client: Private
Area: 230m2
Team:
Construction:
Contract: 2025
[On license]
Background and origin
On Rua Quanza, in Porto, a single-family house from the 1970s is the starting point for a new story.
The property, acquired decades ago by the current owners, has stood the test of time, but no longer offers the health and comfort of contemporary life.
Its structure, marked by memory and use, now became a matter for reinterpretation.
Intention and transformation
One of the family members, who has returned to the city to study, decides to renovate the house and turn it into student apartments.
This gesture of regeneration is born out of affection and necessity: to preserve what the house represents, but to give it a function suited to today’s life.
The renovation converts a domestic space from the past into an urban refuge for the future.
Intervention strategy
The intervention respects the original character of the building, reinterpreting it with rigor and simplicity. The proportions of the façade and the discreet presence on the street are maintained, but the interior is redesigned to accommodate multiple ways of living.
Each apartment privileges natural light, functionality and acoustic comfort, responding to student life and everyday city life.
Shared spaces and private areas coexist in a serene balance between intimacy and community.
Intervention strategy
The intervention respects the original character of the building, reinterpreting it with rigor and simplicity. The proportions of the façade and the discreet presence on the street are maintained, but the interior is redesigned to accommodate multiple ways of living.
Each apartment privileges natural light, functionality and acoustic comfort, responding to student life and everyday city life.
Shared spaces and private areas coexist in a serene balance between intimacy and community.
Matter and light
The renovation emphasizes materials that reflect sobriety and permanence: white surfaces, light wood, exposed concrete elements and abundant natural light.
The light passes through the spaces and reveals the texture of time, while the materiality gives the house back its sense of permanence.
The result is a clean and essential language, where old and new coexist in harmony.
Project Gallery
Unique characteristics that set it apart
Rehabilitating for the future
The Quanza Project is more than a recovery project – it is an exercise in continuity and memory.
An architecture that recognizes the past but reinterprets it to serve the present.
In the heart of Porto, the old family home has been transformed into a set of contemporary homes, designed to accommodate new stories, new beginnings and the silent passage of time.
