Casa da Escrita by João Mendes Ribeiro
Portuguese architect and set designer João Mendes Ribeiro has converted the former house of a poet into a writer's retreat (photos: Do Mal o Menos).
Located in Coimbra, Casa da Escrita was formally named Casa do Arco and housed the late Portuguese poet João Cochofel (1919-1982).
The converted house now provides an archive, writing quarters and temporary accommodation for practicing writers.
The decorative ceilings and corniced walls of the historic house are painted white, while the rooms are filled with polished wooden furniture.
The legs of a newly inserted timber staircase enclose a shelved storage area below, whilst bookshelves are housed within rotating walls nearby.
The open archive is located in the attic, where lines of desks provide workstations for researchers.
Similar renovation projects from the Dezeen archive include a house with floating wooden treads, another with unfinished timber furniture and an apartment with folding doors and sliding walls.
More information is provided by the architects:
Recently awarded the Diogo Castilho 2011 Architectural Prize, the Casa da Escrita ñ former Casa do Arco and residence of the poet João Cochofel is located in the old upper part of Coimbra and is inserted in a dense urban set of predominantly residential narrow winding streets.
The program asked for the contemporary reuse of the building, adaptating it to new functions, reconciling patrimonial and symbolic values with the present demands for comfort and flexibility embodied in the "emptying" and simplification of the living spaces.
Moreover, all the furnish of Casa da Escrita was carefully selected in order to provide the adequacy of the new spaces to a new functional program and to a wide audience, without setting aside the reference to the original space and the houseís atmosphere of comfort and intimacy.
The house is now an open archive, writing workshop and temporary residence for writers supporting a broad set of different activities and interactions between literary writing and other artistic creations.
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