Exposed-concrete stair pulls light and views into Porto, Portugal home by Tsou Arquitectos

[Celerity]

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/03/30/tsou-arquitectos-casa-vertical-concrete-stair-porto-portugal/













A concrete staircase and curved lightwell draw light and views into Casa Vertical, a tall, narrow home in Porto, Portugal, which has been designed by local practice Tsou Arquitectos. In response to the home's thin triangular site, Tsou Arquitectos chose to connect the spaces of the dwelling vertically, giving the project its name.











Entering alongside a garage, a hallway opens into a central staircase that organizes the home, which was cast in exposed concrete and lined with plywood panel balustrades. In order to facilitate visual connections across the staircase, the spaces on either side of the four-storey home sit at half-floor intervals, creating glimpses between spaces while also allowing light to spread.











"The project intends to accommodate the functional programme on a narrow plot in the downtown area of the city," explained the practice. "Its organisation develops around a central staircase with the rooms distributed in half floors. The staircase unifies the intervention, where the guardrail unfolds like an origami piece," it continued.









The home's ground floor steps down to a slightly sunken studio space, which overlooks a small garden at the rear of the home and is illuminated by a curving lightwell that cuts through to the first-floor living room above. Above, the narrow eastern end of the home also contains a kitchen, bedroom and laundry room, with each level overlooking the back of the site through a large window.

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[royable]

1. Very mysterious. This house seems to have no electrical outlets whatsoever.

Even the lamp beside the bed has no power cord. Perhaps everything is battery-operated and there's a big recharging station hidden in a closet somewhere? Hmmm....