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A house designed with Portugal’s social life in mind: cooking, eating and living in a designer space
Artspazios
Local
Viseu (Portugal)
Fabricante
Pear Panel Sociedade Unipessoal Lda
Material
Silestone
Aplicação
Kitchen island, worktop, washbasin
Quantidade
30 m2
Arquitetura/Design
Artspazios
Construtor
Fermento de Obra
Cor
Calacatta Gold
Espessura
12 mm
Data de término
2023
The Artspazios studio was commissioned to renovate a flat in the heart of Viseu, in Portugal, for a young customer who was looking for a modern and functional space. The flat features a predominantly light and neutral colour palette that creates a calm and serene atmosphere, which is enhanced by the textures of the materials used throughout the space. The use of wood to achieve this calm atmosphere is more than evident and proves to work very well in combination with other more powerful materials, such as the Silestone hybrid surface made of minerals and recycled materials.
As if it were a sculptural totem, a large kitchen island extends over the day area, separating the different spaces and providing a playful character. “The entire project revolved around the idea of making the most of the space for social life: cooking, eating and living. The island played a structural role around which both the life in the flat and its surface were organised and arranged”, the studio says.
The project managers chose Silestone for several reasons. “In addition to its technical performance, strength and durability in the face of intensive use, the design of the material also stood out, allowing us to use it for a number of different applications”, the studio says. In this sense, this highly scratch- and impact-resistant material was used not only for this large central element, but also for the dining table and the washbasin.
Silestone Calacatta Gold to help architects meet their design challenges
The versatility of Silestone encouraged the studio’s boldness in thinking of a solution with a rather complicated execution. “The properties of the material encouraged us to design suspended structures for the project”, they say. This way, the huge dividing “marble” block, which seems to float in the air, became the centrepiece of the project. “The great advantage of using Silestone was the fact that, thanks to its properties, it allowed us to reach a level of complexity that we couldn’t even imagine. But its flexibility and strength made this challenge possible”.
It was precisely this marbled colour and pattern that were key to the design of the central island. Silestone Calacatta Gold is inspired by one of the most appreciated marbles of ancient times – still one of the most popular luxury finishes today – and features a white background crossed by elegant grey veins and small golden details.
“The first reason that led us to choose this colour was its design, a marble block that could be suspended from the structure, but we also needed to provide a well-balanced relationship with the wood used throughout the project, which is a key element of it”, they say. Not only the inhabitants, but also the materials are in dialogue in this flat designed for social life.