Casa da Escrita / João Mendes Ribeiro

Architects: João Mendes Ribeiro
Location: Coimbra, Portugal
Structural Engineering: Paulo Maranha Tiago
Hydraulic Engineering: Maria Fernanda Sobral
Mechanical Engineering: João Madeira da Silva
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: do mal o menos

Electrical Engineering: Pascoal FaÌsca, Fernando Canha
Thermal Engineering: Paulo Sampaio
Acoustical Engineering: Celsa Vieira
Landscape Architecture: João Gomes da Silva

Recently awarded the Diogo Castilho 2011 Architectural Prize, the Casa da Escrita, 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, adapting 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 furniture of Casa da Escrita was carefully selected to fit the new spaces and a new functional program, without losing reference to the original space and the houses 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.