Before & After: In Porto, a Tiny Home Emerges From Ruins

"For me, this was an opportunity to do things differently, to experiment," says architect Rui Dinis about the former workers’ home he bought in 2017 near Covelo Park, on the edge of central Porto, in Portugal.

The 344-square-foot house had originally formed part of a project known as urban islands, which were a common type of housing in the city from the 19th century onwards. They were composed of small, semidetached houses, usually with a door and a window facing the access corridor.