Over the course of the pandemic, the relationship between work and home life became fraught and complicated for many people around the world. But for the three cofounders of Porto’s Fala Atelier, very little changed: They live and work in the same building, which they renovated themselves.

“All of our career is about us giving stupid answers to logical questions, and being at the right place at the right time,” Filipe Magalhães says in a cool-headed deadpan as he settles in around a table in the office kitchen. Across the table is his partner, Ana Luisa Soares, who cofounded the architecture studio with Filipe and Ahmed Belkhodja in 2013. Also present is Lera Samovich, who first worked for Fala as an intern in 2014, before joining the team permanently in 2016. She’s now a partner in the firm—although she lives off-site.

The space is an upgrade from the practice’s previous home base: The building is generously sized, spread across three stories with airy ceilings and a verdant garden in the back. Fala works as a team in an office on the ground-floor level. Ahmed lives in an apartment on the first floor with a pinstriped pink door, and a massive porthole between his kitchen and living space. Filipe and Ana Luisa live together in a larger apartment on the top floor, where six rooms branch off of a central corridor. On a clear day, you can see the sea from their balcony.

Fala purchased the space in 2016, although renovations only began in 2019. To pay for the building, they sold their previous property, which they’d purchased for cheap, and which had accrued value quickly as speculators descended on Porto’s property market. “With the 30-square-meter office we had before, we bought 150 square meters,” Ana Luisa says. Right place, right time.

It might sound like opportunism, or even careerism, but the logic that guides Fala’s practice is much closer to pragmatism. For example, when they couldn’t find an extractor hood that fit with the rest of a client’s kitchen, they designed one themselves. Then they designed another one, and another, each leading further and further away from the classic steel ducts we’re used to and toward red pyramids and bold teal cones. Eventually, they exhibited a collection of their experimental extractor hoods in Geneva where, Ana Luisa adds, “Some people thought they were just sculptures.”

But planning their own office and living spaces presented Fala with new and novel challenges. “Designing for yourself is very different than designing for a client,” Filipe points out. Ana Luisa agrees, nodding as she adds, “We had so many discussions about the kitchen.”

“Designing for yourself is very different than designing for a client.”
—Filipe Magalhães, architect and resident

They first laid out what they needed (two annexed apartments, and an office space), then what they wanted: an open-office floor plan with easy access to the garden for the summer; plenty of storage; natural light in the penthouse kitchen; a cat door in Ahmed’s studio for a feline companion. They kept the doors to each individual compartment of the building on the same level as the street outside—but staggering the distance between these doors and staircases to the upper and lower floors allowed for rooms that neatly fit together like Tetris blocks. From the street, the two living spaces have matching checkered teal doors, while the door to the office is checkered in pink.

Construction was the most difficult part of the process. “This is a 1930s building, so the slabs are very thin, and every time we demolished something, the building would move,” Filipe says. As engineers worked on the site to adjust and cast columns after the building resettled, the team intervened occasionally to tweak their designs.

They were especially mindful of the use of concrete, a relatively expensive material, and one they sought to celebrate by leaving it exposed. A little bit pokes out of the wall in the upstairs living room—a projection that’s hardly bigger than a pack of playing cards. They decided to keep the tiny concrete island bare, so they first informed the plasterer, who still covered it with plaster, which was later removed. Then they told the painter, who still coated it in paint, which was also removed. “They were persistent—they really wanted to cover it,” Filipe says with a grin. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

Porto has strict rules governing the design of street-facing facades to protect its famed tiled buildings, which have led Fala to develop an idiosyncratic approach over time: They create elaborate facades in the backyards of many of their projects, instead. These facades range in execution from stripes of black, white, and teal marble to metal grates in pinks and red. Together, they spell out a visual language with which Fala’s architects style and decorates their projects—including their homes.

The team isn’t afraid of bold statements, like canary-yellow kitchen cabinets and bright blue under-sink storage. They’re not put off by unconventional shapes, either: In the upper-level bathroom, a circular mirror spans a corner, seamlessly adhered to two adjacent walls at a 90-degree angle.

Ikea furniture is festooned with massive wooden drawer pulls the firm designed for clients, and in fact, many of their furnishings are early drafts of in-house projects, with some additional pieces sourced secondhand. They covered tables, countertops, and even a chest of drawers (also Ikea) with smooth, white marble, which might seem whimsical or luxurious, but actually falls in line with their thrifty and pragmatic approach to problem solving. Marble is cheap in Portugal, and Ana Luisa points out that, “If you want to do a stone countertop, it’s twice the price.”

Living in such close quarters to your work isn’t for everyone—the past two years have laid this clear for all to see. But for Filipe, Ana Luisa, and Ahmed, it makes sense. They travel often for their projects, so being able to cut down on commuting helps streamline the time they get to spend in Porto. “I can’t imagine how it would be if we were not here—if we moved into an apartment, and bought an office somewhere,” Filipe says.

“This is home,” he continues before pausing a beat. “It’s logical.”

Read about Fala’s latest project in Dwell’s July/August 2022 issue:

An American Couple Turn a Portuguese Storefront Into Their Dream Home

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Fala / @fala.atelier

Builder/General Contractor: Engilaco Ido

Structural Engineer: Eng Paulo Sousa

Landscape Design: Pomo / @pomolandscapes