Alpuins / Branco Cavaleiro & Associados, lda

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Text description provided by the architects.This project refers to the Rehabilitation of the building: Casa Alpuim (Casa dos Agorretas) and its Expansion (BlockA), located in the city center ofViana do Castelo. This emblematic building is a neo-manueline urban Palace believed to have been built in the 17th or 18th century.Based on the regulation of the Historic Center ofViana do Castelofor the area in question, was developed a rehabilitation and recovery project, that occupies the previously mentioned building, adapting it to the function of multi-family housing, but maintaining its architectural features and most of their original elements.This intervention returned an emblematic building to the city that was in a significant damage and brought the people back to this central area of the city with the creation of superior quality multi-family housing.The architectural intervention of the interior in the existing building was very thoughtful, seeking to preserve a large part of the original construction elements (skylights, vertical accesses, marbled walls, plaster ceilings) and ensuring the necessary improvements in terms of the building's thermal and acoustic performance.We use materials and construction techniques compatible and coherent with the historical moment and character of the buildings, with the entire construction system of the existing building being made of wood and the ceilings and skylights made of decorative plaster.The rehabilitation and its conversion into housing focused on returning the building to its initial splendor, maintaining its main characteristics. The facades were rehabilitated, preserving all their elements and characteristics, maintaining the main image of the building.