At a time when housing models are often generic and disconnected from context, Terrazza emerges as a deliberate and critical response. It is a project that seeks to reconnect the city with its natural substrate and reimagine how we live within it.

Set within a residential block in northern Porto, on a site shaped by steep gradients and the remnants of scattered structures, Terrazza is guided by the belief that architecture must articulate more than form. It must shape relationships - between people, between interior and exterior space, and between the built environment and its landscape.

The project is conceived as a continuous spatial experience, both ecological and social. Two buildings, positioned along opposing street fronts, form a constructed valley. Working with the site's natural topography, this configuration generates a series of stepped gardens, private terraces, and shared spaces at the base of the courtyard.

Terrazza’s architecture alternates between two complementary conditions. On the public-facing edges, a compact and clearly defined volume asserts its presence within the urban fabric. On the interior, the mass dissolves into a fragmented sequence of garden terraces and landscaped platforms, creating a soft edge that invites light, air, and vegetation into the heart of the block.

Rather than reinforcing the conventional detachment between buildings and their surroundings, the project explores a model of housing where permeability, diversity, and flexibility are central. It offers the privacy and intimacy often associated with single-family dwellings, while preserving the advantages of urban life: proximity, density, and community.

Each apartment is designed with its own outdoor space, allowing for a personal connection to the landscape. These thresholds between built form and open air offer not only comfort, but also identity.

Materially, the project avoids spectacle in favour of tactility and calm. The architecture is defined by its texture, its modulation of light and shadow, and its ability to respond to the site with humility rather than imposition.

With Terrazza, we continue its investigation into architecture as a tool for transformation. The project does not simply fill a void in the city - it reclaims it as a place for new relationships to form, both human and spatial. In this way, Terrazza grows with its residents, just as a garden grows with care and time.