On the south coast of São Miguel, Portugal, SO Arquitetura & Design has turned a tiny storage building into a complete home. Mini Atalhada began with a footprint of just 13 square meters, inside a concrete structure too small to accommodate even a car. The architects bought the building themselves, using it as a chance to test their own ideas about how little space a house really needs. With very little room to expand across the site, they went upward, bringing the total interior area to around 35 square meters.
The stair became the central problem almost immediately. In a house this small, a conventional staircase could consume a large share of usable floor space, so the studio designed a compact structure from perforated metal sheet with timber treads. Light passes through it, as do views from one level to another. The stair still takes up space, of course, but its porous construction keeps it from cutting the house into isolated floors.
image © Ivo Tavares Studio
the house stacks its rooms toward the light
The team at SO Arquitetura & Design organizes the home’s program to follow the building upward. The lowest level meets the street and contains the entrance with supporting functions, while the sleeping area sits through the intermediate levels. The main living space occupies the top floor alongside the kitchen, with a work area incorporated into the same level. Here, the house gains more daylight and a stronger relationship with the surrounding landscape and sea.
At 35 square meters, every element has to earn its place. Built-in furniture absorbs storage and domestic functions, while structure and lighting are worked into the same spatial logic. The interior feels connected across floors instead of being broken into a collection of tiny rooms. Even the stair participates in that idea, allowing sightlines and light to continue through the center of the house.
Mini Atalhada converts a 13-square-meter storage structure into a compact home in the Azores
concrete and timber give depth to a tiny interior
Exposed reinforced concrete stays visible throughout the interior, giving the small house a fairly direct material character. Pale timber brings warmth against those harder surfaces, while black window frames and dark ceramic finishes sharpen the edges of the rooms. There is very little excess here. The interest comes from how those surfaces sit close together, changing as daylight moves through the narrow volume.
Light does a surprising amount of spatial work. Openings visually extend the rooms toward the landscape, while daylight travels through the perforated stair and across several levels. After dark, integrated lighting makes the stacked occupation of the house visible through its facade.
SO Arquitetura & Design also sees Mini Atalhada as a response to rising land and construction costs, but the strongest argument is already built into the house itself: an awkward 13-square-meter footprint has become a complete home whose compactness shapes almost every architectural decision.
a perforated metal staircase keeps light moving through the narrow interior
the sleeping area occupies the intermediate levels between the street and upper living space
timber treads soften the metal stair running through the center of the house
the top floor places the main living space beside views toward the sea
exposed concrete meets pale timber throughout the compact interior
custom built-in furniture concentrates storage along the walls
integrated lighting makes the stacked rooms visible through the facade after dark
project info:
name: Mini Atalhada
architect: SO Arquitetos | @s.o_archi
location: Atalhada, Lagoa, São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
total area: 35 square meters
completion: 2026
photography: © Ivo Tavares Studio | @ivotavaresstudio
main architects: Bruno Furtado, Gonçalo Blétière Lopes
co-authorship: Margarida Condeixa, Neuza Duarte, Mariana Figueiredo
builder: Tecnicouto, Lda
engineering: Teorema Contínuo – Unipessoal Lda
lighting: TECNIQ
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