Fala Atelier's House Around a Column on a tiny plot in Porto

Porto studio fala atelier has finished a house on a plot of just 60 square metres, hemmed in by neighbours on every side and awkwardly skewed. Rather than fight the shape, the architects took its longest wall as their guide and set a continuous route along it, climbing through the levels so the house gains in height what it lacks in floor space. The result, House Around a Column, offers 120 square metres.

From the street you see black-and-white marble stripes and a window that looks too big for the building: two openings on different floors drawn together into one shape, hiding where one level ends. Small bursts of colour do practical jobs: a pink circle is a handle, a yellow triangle a handrail, a green square a shutter. Out the back, two windows under a striped cornice and a floating semicircular rail give the narrow facade the look of a cheeky face.

Inside, the first-floor living room runs between two large windows under an angular ceiling cut that designboom likens to an Ellsworth Kelly composition. A triangular kitchen, striped floor and three columns (round, hexagonal and square) share the space, with two very different staircases rising to the roof.

It is a private home, so this one is for looking at, and a cheerful case for small, difficult sites.

Our summary of a story from designboom, published 2 November 2026. Read the original

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