Casa Baltazar

Pedro Gadanho

En un paisaje con vistas hacia el río Oporto y uno de sus muchos puentes, una cáscara de piedra -con una arquitectura pobre e incomprensible excepto si es considerada en términos puramente económicos-, con escasas y poco generosas aberturas, aguarda ser transformada en materia sumamente deseable.

El área habitable es mágicamente triplicada bajo la misma azotea que se amplía hacia arriba y hacia abajo. Atractivas figuras geométricas y coloridas se apoderan de un marco que rebosa blancura y contrasta, y ambos se oponen a la imagen exterior de la construcción. Una escalera parecida a un tornillo sin fin perfora la casa hasta transformarse en una claraboya. Distintas aberturas han sido reducidas al suelo para dejar entrar las poderosas vistas en intervalos desiguales.

Pedro Gadanho | Foto: Fernando Guerra

Escalera

Pedro Gadanho | Foto: Fernando Guerra

Planos de casas

Pedro Gadanho
Pedro Gadanho en Arquitectura Arkinetia

Fotos: Fernando Guerra
Fernando Guerra en Arquitectura Arkinetia

Project credits

Architecture: Pedro Gadanho
Location: Porto
Date: 2007/2008
Built area: 110 square meters
General Contractor: Semedidas
Photographer: Fernando Guerra

Materials: Lacquered MDF, Polyurethane Resin, Stucco, Plasterboard.
Plan Captions
1.Entrance
2.Dining
3.Living
4.Kitchen
5.Storage
6.Bathroom
7.Bedroom
8.Bedroom
9.Hall
10.Master bedroom
11.Walk-in closet
12.Bathroom

Pedro Gadanho is an architect, curator and writer based in Lisbon. He is an MA in art &
architecture, holds a PHD on architecture & mass-media, and currently teaches Theory IV at the
Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto. He is the editor-in-chief of the upcoming
BEYOND, Short-stories on the Post-Contemporary, and contributes regularly to other magazines.
He co-authored two TV series and, between 2000 and 2003, was one of the chief curators of
ExperimentaDesign, the Lisbon Biennial. He curated Metaflux, the Portuguese representation at the
2004 Architecture Venice Biennale; Influx, for Serralves Contemporary Art Museum;
Post.Rotterdam, for the European Culture Capital Porto 2001; Space Invaders, for the British
Council London, and, most recently, Pancho Guedes, for the Swiss Architecture Museum. Amongst
exhibition layouts, galleries and refurbishments, his designs include the Ellipse Foundation in
Lisbon, and the widely published Orange House, in Carreço, and Family Home, in Oporto.

Texto original en inglés:

Ghosts in the Shell

Sometimes it happens. Gentrification preys on small row houses that
suddenly turn from outcast to highly enviable. As a result of historical
accidents in the evolution of either small or big cities, what was once
marked as socially invisible can reveal itself alluring and eye-catching.
This is the story of one of these places.
With its view on the Oporto river and one of its many bridges, this little
house was indeed an attractive target. At little more than 40sqm here was
a stone shell that, stripped of its prior ghosts, could turn into a highly
desirable commodity.
Amazing as its cityscape was, the architecture of the house was poor and
incomprehensible, except if considered in pure economical terms. Its
single floor seemed impossibly full with kitchen, dining and two rooms.
Openings were scarce and ungenerous. A cellar space was no more than a
half height forgotten hole.
In comes the architect, the wizard of Oz, to do his magic and create new
ghosts to replace the old ones. Even if the crisis strides out there, enters
the golden touch of property development hypermodernity.
The place’s liveable area is magically tripled under the very same roof: it
expands upwards and downwards.
On top, a bachelor pad is born, a spaceship for sex and sleep complete
with a diving view onto the green and a sentinel’s lookout onto the sky.
Below, the ground is excavated to create temporary rooms from which the
young sons can step up onto the private courtyard garden.
The entrance floor is totally demolished to reveal a hidden scenario and
welcome a new way of life. Here, the architect does his thing and casts his
spell: out goes Cinderella, in come the Transformers© and what looks
like the paraphernalia of new manga heroes.
The new inner landscape thus accommodates functional parasites that
stand in a stark contrast with the shell stripped bare.
Against the white, colourful geometric beings seem to emerge out of
nothing: an entrance box pushes forward with an eye on things, a
wormlike staircase perforates the house until it transforms into the
skylight, a petrol green caterpillar flowers from kitchen fitting onto dining
room sideboard.
These animals, let’s call them such, rest against the back entrance wall.
As everything and everyone in the house’s middle floor they face three
dissimilar apertures that have been cut down to the floor to let in the
powerful view at uneven intervals.
Inwards and outwards, the house is now ruled by a new breed of genius
loci.

Pedro Gadanho, Lisbon, October 2008