Bold color combinations, impractical geometric shapes, peculiar textures, stairs that go nowhere coalesce in an apartment building in Porto, Portugal by Fala Atelier. Simply dubbed “102,” the project proffers a design language akin to a fun house.
The 4-story building may be small but sure is mighty. It is located on a 699-square-foot (65-square-meter) plot of land and has a gross floor area of 2,583 square feet (240-square-meters). Bothered by both the plot and the local regulations, Fala Atelier commented, “The empty plot is small, limited, and somewhat sad. The same could be said about the regulations applicable. The entire volume of the building is predefined—a slightly skewed box of four levels with a setback at the top. In an arrogant move, the project tries to be ambitious, overly complex, and joyful.”
The white rectangular facade of 102 subtly grabs the attention of those passing. Attention is drawn to the avant garde, 3D marble linear stripes and dots covering the entire building. This quirky design element coexists with three chimneys doused in watermelon pink. Other bold color choices include, the dark kelly green roof cornices and the red shades donned by the large windows on every floor. Fala Atelier described their work as “gloriously repeating,” and that is seen here in the repetition of pattern and material across the exterior.
The whimsical facade elements are only but an introduction to the playful clash of material application and obscure geometric shapes inside. Fala Atelier shared in a project description that the interiors, “Begin with the staircase that avoids doing the obvious thing. While leading upstairs, it nudges and reshapes the three apartments it serves. These interior spaces result from a multitude of uncanny intersections between the meandering staircase and the available square meters.”
The main terrazzo stairs display a zig-zag or stepped motion, which is then mirrored throughout the building as stair-adjacent cutouts offering unique juxtapositions and pops of soft seafoam green. The harsh horizontal and vertical lines from the stairs are balanced by crescent-shaped mirrors and soft curved walls. These loud structural forms are met with striped wooden floors and white-tiled walls. The pale green appears again in the grout work. The exposed concrete ceilings look carved, continuing the diverse use of geometry.
Perhaps the most fun-house-esque element is what the studio described as, “unsafe handrails for the circulation spaces.” The random display of handrails are clearly not there for functionality, as they hang from the bottom of the stairs and are circular—a joyful embrace of the impractical.
Fala Atelier’s work often exists through the beat of their own drum, and 102 is the perfect example of that. Housed in a familiar form, nothing is quite what it seems in this fun house.