This single family housing was developed within the limits outlined by the existing building, making use of the roof span, achieved by slight reducing the height of the ground floor and by changing the roof, thus creating sufficient height for this floor to be used for housing also.

The builidng is developed on two floors, with the following distribution:

The ground floor comprises the entrance hall of the dwelling, kitchen and pantry, living room, a bathroom, two bedrooms and an access to the upper floor. On this floor there is also a small garden that will be maintained and expanded through the demolition of the existing laundry which has now been transferred to the garage. On the upper floor, there is a small room, a bedroom and a bathroom.

This single family housing was developed within the limits outlined in the initial sketch. The daring volumetric composition is formed by an apparently closed volume that rests on a base and a plan that intercepts it. This volumetric arrangement is emphasized by the use of different materials: stone and wood, which respectively compose the upper volume/wall and the recessed lower floor.

This closure from the street is contradicted by the opening to the inner side of the lot. In terms of programmatic distribution, the space is divided between ancillary areas (basement), social areas (ground floor) and private areas (1st floor). The upper volume, with a single slopped roof, rises above the street emphasizing its dimension and creating a dynamic volumetric composition, with tension and, simultaneously, stability in the composition of its forms.

The project was the answer to a competition for the construction of 164 apartments destined to rehouse the people from an area of slum housing.

The problems involved with designing a collective housing for this social group raised a series of question that, once recognised, needed to be studied and answered. Factors such as the different ways of inhabiting, the different family core, the several ethnic groups and their respective ingrained patterns of life, all called for a diversified use of space and demanded alternative spaces that should be integrated into the scheme, whilst arriving at a common denominative.

The construction of a collective group of housing in a deprived urban area is capable of raising the environmental standard of the whole locality. The site in question is excellently located near the National Highway 109, surrounded by green areas and with views to the sea. The design demanded care and attention in order to develop a language and a relationship between volumes, worried about not creating “social ghettos” that disadvantage the whole development and through association negate the remaining favourable spaces of the habitation, a threat urban social housing projects have fallen victim to in the past. There was an identified need to build the social housing and accompanying urban spaces with a strong regard of durability, in recognition of the fact that a non-descript act of degradation soon generates more significant decay.

The genesis of the project is based on five guiding concepts: Maintain, Rehabilitate, Correct, Improve and Transform. It is through the interpretation and analysis of these assumptions that the following intervention proposal is designed.

As a point of departure it is intended to MAINTAIN all the elements considered characteristic and fundamental to the identity and uniqueness of this Church of ours. 

REABILITARY will be the second premise and will involve identifying the elements that need to be treated in order to be able to maintain, in accordance with the previous point.

CORRECTING the elements with the most functional problems is an essential concern of the intervention. Intervening in the current configuration of the main altar and side altars, in the arrangement of the seats of the nave and transept, in the configuration of the entrance windguard or in the access to the high choir are key parts of this proposal and they want to be corrected and adapted in order to respond to today’s requests.

At the same time, we are studying how to IMPROVE and enhance the characteristics of each space. In this category is integrated, for example, the possibility of intervention in the access to the galleries and their distribution, allowing the increase of the area of the organ tube space, allowing emergency exits from the galleries with the hypothesis of, if desired, creating space for the high choir, and in this way, phased and with an eye to the future, qualify aesthetically and functionally the upper floor of the church.

Finally, it is also intended to TRANSFORM, in a positive way, the functionality, the qualities so as to reinforce the image of the Mother Church. Starting from this key concept and the idea of conjugation between the existing and the need for a new area or new construction, it is proposed to transform the northern sacristy into a chapel destined for the Most Holy.

The lot was small, with the front facing south and not much depth. The area seemed small for the intended programme. All houses are surprises, all projects are uncertainties that are constructed. In the end, they are questions we would like to clarify.
There is no project without a client, without a site or without a programme. Here the trilogy was well known, which sometimes is of little help. The clients were friends, old friends, who we knew well. The site was a street in my own town and the programme, a relationship of spaces and uses that I knew. There was only one request, something simple, a space with movement, for life, for family, to house the ideal happiness.
It was a matter of designing a house for Fátima, Zé Carlos, Leonor, André and for all of us, friends who love to share with them the everyday life, our friendship, the ordinary days.
It seemed there was no secret or mystery, just an idea of celebration, a space for an ideal of life, more than a house, a place to permanently transform, a space of freedom, open to use, the experience, to Being!
Thus, we sought to design: a home of life, a sweet address, the portrait of its inhabitants.

The site of the intervention, with 443,50 sq.m, is inserted in a predominantly residential area of single-family houses and is located at Rua 14, nº 425, in the parish and municipality of Espinho.

The main objective of the intervention was the development of a solution that complies with the defined functional program and respect for the environment, while trying to enhance the use of the land and its characteristics.

The project proposes the construction of new walls, at a uniform height, aligned with the lowest roof level of the existing construction. In order to make the route more dynamic and to bring natural light into the interior of the dwelling, it is proposed to open a new courtyard, on which all the interior compartmentalization will develop.

The new proposal creates a transparent and communicating space where all the functions of the new dwelling can be carried out in direct connection with the exterior but in a protected way with a subtle design of facade planes, cutting out differentiating geometries thus characterizing the design of the central courtyard which is the heart and identity of the whole project, making it distinctive.

The access to the dwelling is made through the 14th Street and the sidewalk, one accesses an entrance patio that takes the user in a promenade of access to the dwelling, crossing a garden, until reaching the central patio, where the entrance is located. Once inside, one accesses an atrium where a screen separates the entrance area from the living room and the dining area, keeping the space fluid and continuous. The circulation is made around the courtyard, accompanying the large glass cloths.