Bureau des Mésarchitectures crafts a half-circular housing block clad in concrete and aluminum panels

Bureau des Mésarchitectures—the architectural practice of French-Portuguese artist Didier Fiúza Faustino—has designed a new apartment complex in Leiria, Portugal. Adding seven additional apartments along Leira’s Rua dos Mártires, near the center of the small city, the complex consists of a renovated single family home connected to a newly constructed, half-circular extension clad in precast concrete and gold-painted aluminum panels.

The unique geometry of the extension volume was determined by the shape of its site, which is located adjacent to a roundabout that guides traffic through the busy Rua dos Mártires. Behind the new extension, the renovated single family home sits alongside a quieter residential road that branches off from the roundabout. In a project description, the architects describe the design of the extension as “a hinge between these two urban conditions.”

Bureau des Mésarchitecture subdivided the existing 2-story home into two apartments, one on each floor. When designing an extension to the home, the architects were subject to the oversight of a local preservation board.

“The existing building’s original color was an almost pure yellow,” said Faustino. “Considering that this part of the city is under heritage preservation rule, we decided to work on gold to sand tones to match the facade of the old building. We favored a color continuity in place of a ‘style’ continuity,” he added. “This choice was confirmed by the approval of our project by the heritage preservation board.”

The semi-circular extension contains five apartments as well as a staircase that connects to the existing structure. On the interior, the apartments have been fit with epoxy floors, exposed concrete columns, and birch doors.

To expedite construction, the extension was clad with prefabricated panels. This also allowed the construction team to reduce waste on the job site.

“The major challenge during construction was the precise assembly of all the detached parts, especially the connection between the concrete panels and the aluminum pieces,” added Faustino. “The handling of the concrete panels was also very delicate due to their dimensions (3 meters by 3 meters). Since there are no hidden parts on the facade, everything had to be perfectly neat.”

Reversible air-conditioners were implemented in the apartments to improve operational energy performance. In addition, the building’s precast concrete panels were insulated using locally sourced Portuguese cork.

Bureau des Mésarchitectures is currently engaged in projects across France and Portugal, including the design of its own studio, which is expected to complete this month. Previously, AN covered EXIST/RESIST, a retrospective of Faustino’s artistic work held at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon.

Project Specifications