02 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_©BISTO image_concrete facade green pots
07 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Context Rotunda da Boavista Casa da Musica scheme
10 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Cycle diagram sustainable development
02 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Axo diagram
04 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Facade scheme diagram
06 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Axonometry changes to common spaces
05 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Axonometry connection with the surroundings
03 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans groundfloor
05 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans level 3
06 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans level 4
08 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans level 6
09 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans level 7
02 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans level -1
01 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Plans level -2
01 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_©BISTO image_tiles modular concrete facade
01 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_section A-A
02 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_section B-B
09 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Axonometry facade renovation
01 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Building transformation redesign
03 - MASSLAB__Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_©BISTO image_buidling from the street sun-dappled
03 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Construction facade diagram
08 - MASSLAB_Malha_Avenida_de_França_Boavista Porto Portugal_renovation_affordable housing_Constructive axonometry balcony space
Malha

HOW CAN WE REINVENT AN EXISTING BLOCK THROUGH EXPOSURE TO ITS BASIC ELEMENTS, WHILE GIVING A NEW PURPOSE TO THE BUILDING?


The building started as a military compound and its rehabilitation comes from a series of investments on the part of the Portuguese government to solve the housing crisis. The project hinges on the fact that this is the last piece on a succession of buildings that follows down the Avenida de França, near Casa da Música, in Porto.


Because of this importance in the design of this street, the design seeks to exchange the outer shell of this slab/pillar/beam structure within a new finishing, enabling with few resources to completely overall the conditions of the interior environment. Addition and Subtraction are the main guidelines of the proposal, along with the understanding of the static nature and the advanced stage of disrepair of this structure.


Taking the structural grid, the apartments are organized around a common corridor on each floor that widens and contracts to permit common use and storage for all the inhabitants on each floor. This way the reinvention of the building aims to reintegrate it with the housing fabric of the surrounding area. This looks to change the least bulk of the building cladding the structure with new finishings, and reconfiguring only the stairs and elevator shafts which are completely obsolete in today’s standards.


The apartments organize themselves through a succession of spaces enabling private and collective uses as separate or joined as desired by the dwellers. The building chooses to confront the cityscape through an open entrance in direct relation to the Casa da Música Metro Station by Eduardo Souto de Moura. This showcases the franc connection between the public and private domain wherein the prevalence of private life stands as the base for the surrounding social life, revitalizing an otherwise static point in the urban landscape.

Project

Malha

Location

Porto, Portugal

Client

IHRU

Program

Housing

Year

2023

Status

Competition

Area

5.193 m2

Partner in charge

Duarte Ramalho Fontes

Design team

José Girão, Anna Manunta, Içim Atli, Wladimir Pulupa

Consultants

Adão da Fonseca – Engenheiros Consultores; Bisto

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