House Atelier by oitoo: A Sustainable Renovation Integrating Work and Home in Porto

The House Atelier by oitoo is a thoughtful residential and workplace renovation project in Porto, Portugal, transforming an incomplete structure into a versatile, sustainable home for a family of designers. Set on a rare urban plot with a generous backyard and three street-facing façades, the project reimagines a previously abandoned XIX-century building and its half-finished expansion into a cohesive dwelling that merges domestic life with creative workspaces.

The site originally included an unfinished intervention intended to create touristic apartments. For five years, the structure remained suspended in limbo, its concrete additions contrasting sharply with the original stone architecture. Rather than replacing the whole composition, oitoo approached the project with a strategy of critical reuse, identifying redeemable qualities and transforming them into the foundation for an integrated, adaptive architectural solution.

The existing plot revealed several valuable attributes that guided the design: substantial built volume, a spacious garden, and an unusual exposure on three sides within an otherwise continuous urban block. The challenge was to honor these strengths while reworking the incomplete construction into a functional, aesthetically coherent residence and atelier. The result is a project that embraces continuity, sustainability, and flexibility, a quiet but assertive architectural response to the challenges of renovating historically dense urban centers.

The program called for creating a seamless balance between family life and professional activity under the same roof. oitoo achieved this by distributing functions vertically. The ground floor hosts the atelier and work-oriented spaces, providing direct access to the public realm and facilitating collaboration. The first floor becomes the heart of the home, with a generous living area overlooking the garden and forming a spatial bridge between the working spaces below and the private bedrooms above. This arrangement encourages interaction while maintaining boundaries between personal and professional life.

Judicious demolition removed intrusive portions of the previously added volume, preserving the authentic stone walls and much of the newer concrete structure. These elements were integrated into a unified architectural expression through thoughtful detailing, refined material honesty, and a careful articulation of massing. The project avoids unnecessary cladding, allowing raw surfaces to contribute to the interior atmosphere and reinforcing a straightforward design language aligned with contemporary sustainable practices.

Sustainability plays a central role in the House Atelier. The project prioritizes the reuse of existing structural elements, significantly reducing construction waste. Natural cross-ventilation is maximized through deliberate façade openings, ensuring thermal comfort with minimal mechanical intervention. Sustainably sourced materials were selected for insulation and flooring, and systems for energy efficiency and water management were incorporated to reduce the home’s environmental footprint. The integration of these strategies creates a resilient, resource-conscious living and working environment tailored to long-term habitation.

All photographs are works of Attilio Fiumarella