Inspection and Diagnosis, Safety Assessment, Structural Design
NCREP developed the structural design project for a building in downtown Porto. The building in question is located in Porto historic center, which is labeled by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and overlooks one of the most emblematic monuments of the city, Porto Cathedral.
The building is a typical old house of Porto, being composed of exterior granite stone masonry walls, interior “tabique” walls dividing the compartments and wooden floors and roof. This building was characterized by very small compartments which gave place, according to the new architectural project, to wider spaces with higher ceiling height. The architectural design was created by SWARK.
The designed intervention began with the execution of new roof and floors made of glued laminated pine wood structural elements, supported on the stone masonry walls, which will be maintained and rehabilitated. It has also designed a new floor (3rd) on top of the building, entirely made of wooden structural elements (exterior and inner walls, floors and roof).
The definition of the structural intervention involved, when possible, traditional materials and techniques, so as to preserve the building’s identity and simultaneously to be in agreement with the principles foreseen in the Charters and International Recommendations, namely the reversibility, compatibility and low intrusiveness of the solutions. Thus, the designed structural solution in addition to having been conceived to comply with the technical, economic and architectural requirements sought to take into account the existing structural materials and systems.
Year: 2012
Typology: Residential
Location: Porto
Photography: SWARK.