The Future is the Beginning Understand the No matter what rurality

A doric column to reveal a material informality of cities or post-rurality are

and immaterial persistence needed Four perspectives to deepen the to rethinking the notion of
in the nowadays cultural and debate of informality in homeland as something that goes
social precariousness p.17 the contemporary city p.21 beyond soil and blood p.37

homeland
News from Portugal
02
August
2014

14th International
Architecture
Exhibition
Venice
DIRECTOR Pedro Campos Costa

Portuguese
Peopleless
New lexicons of
hospitality P.14 Pavilion

Homes:
A well-behaved squatt at Extensively distributed in three differ-
66 Avenida dos Aliados, ent editions, over the six month period
of the exhibition, Homeland, News
Porto. Legal, acknowledged, from Portugal intends to report news
agreed. Subsequently, it is about current architectural, social
not a squatt. So what is it? and economic life in Portugal, reflect-
ing on and informing about a variety
of aspects of the modernization of the
country over the past 100 years.

The right to Specifically, Homeland aims to ad-

dress the issues raised by architect
Rem Koolhaas (Fundamentals - Ab-

have a house P.18

sorbi ng Moder n it y: 1914-2014)
through a critical and purposeful re-
flection on housing, a field of excel-
lence for experimenting with moder-
nity which has always been an essen-
Housing policies in Portugal tial element of urban and rural envi-
during the twentieth century ronments and a social and cultural re-
and the dream of April 25 flection of its inhabitants.

Change from porto

the within P.22 Mapping the Vacant Housing in 18 of Portugal's

District Capitals reveals the shocking numbers of
a shocking national framework: 735,128 vacant
dwellings. But what these startling statistic show can lisboa

A contribution for the also be seen as a new opportunity for people p. 04

debate concerning the Marta onofre

built environment vs global

Rehabilitating
Total of vacant houses

735,128
capital schism

Lisbon Skyline 12.5%

rehabilitation
handbook P.26 With its conception of rehabilitation
that is absolutely contemporary and of-
fers the individual perspective of the
architect (and of his/her role in gener-
On the making the handbook al), it is Tvoras proposal in particular
to put forward, more than that has nowadays acquired a new, spe-
an architectural output, a cific relevance. This is owed to an in-
clusive character that it acknowledges
political and social strategy or proposes (by associating physical
to rehabilitation. action to social intervention), as well
as by the social and cultural dimension
of what is at stake: People are worth

Back to the
infinitely more than houses and by
the emphasis placed on the importance
of participation (active, not merely ac-
quiescent). Above all, Tvoras propos-

classics P.30
al stands out for the enduring lessons
that the past assures the future, as it
establishes a principle that postulates
and synthesizes its entire programme,
Talking with Sami Architects that of continuation-through-inno-
on architecture and being an vation, in a constant movement for
change towards better conditions, but
architect, on the detached respecting the positive values that may
house and on the space of exist and should not, therefore, be de-

a landscape of
intimacy stroyed. This encompasses the sur-
passing of the dichotomy between ma-
jor art practices/minor art practices
and the rejection of pastiche. p. 29

Towards a new
On Portuguese
rural model?P.34
opportunities
theatre &
Arquiteturas
Planning a new kind of place.
Not quite urban? Definitely
not suburban?, Yet not really
rural any more? film festival P.38
2 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Highlights
SOCIETY
Pedro Bandeira
A tribute to Greek culture and to their
heritage of democracy to counter the cul-
tural and social precariousness in which
we live today. Maybe its time to reinvent
the primitive P.17
ECONOMY
Pedro Costa
Informality is a key-issue in socioeco-
nomic and urban structuring these days.
But dealing with the informal in contem-
porary cities demands more integrated
approaches, citizens involvement, flex-
ibility and accountability. P.21
POLITICS
Joo Lus Ferreira
The housing cooperative is a very powerful
lesson about freedom and compromise.
And it's in this compromise, with all that it
means, that architecture is more than aes-
thetics and becomes ethics. P.25
CULTURE
Jos Aguiar,
Vitor Ribeiro
Miguel Reimo
Costa
Cabea Padro, Jos-Augusto Frana and volumes without recurring to symbols
Fernando Tvora, three innovative models
as opposed to the alleged inevitability of the
need for substitution and sanitization in urban
renewal as embraced by Modernism. P.29
INTERNATIONAL
Jos Manuel
Fernandes
Portuguese architecture in the Atlantic
Islands: the influence of the motherland
and the ability to generate distinct forms
and spaces, whose character is rooted in
their striking local environments. P.33
TERRITORY
lvaro Domingues
Reflecting after the use and addressees
of the nostalgic discourse about land, bio-
logical agriculture, the new rurals, rural
tourism and other ruralities. P.37
Vacant housing in
Portugal 2014 P.4-P.13
Gonalo loureno
From the shocking numbers that report
that in Portugal there are 735,128 vacant
dwellings, 1,860 million or 31% more
dwellings than families, but that there
are still approximately 30 000 families
living in slums and more than half
million families living in overcrowded
homes, comes the idea to map this
reality as a way to inform, alert and
harshly criticize Using the open-source
Geographic Information System (GIS)
named QuantumGIS, a large quantity
of geographic data is processed and
visualized with the help of cartographic
editing tools.
joana oliveira &
zara ferreira
Peopleless Homes - a Landscape of
opportunities
Andr pais
Project "Foreclosures"
travel p.39
Herbert Wright
A travel in the north to see why
Portugal's house architecture is unique
Interview
The city, a ghetto of different forms of knowledge
Interview with Gonalo Byrne BY PEDRO CAMPOS COSTA & SUSANA VENTURA
In his work, as well as in the thought
process developed alongside his
practice, Gonalo Byrne has been
questioning several problems concerning
contemporary cities and the simultaneous
processes of sedimentation (the
acceptance of the gift of history, whilst
having a selective critical eye) and
transformation (as contemporary actions
cannot be alienated from their own status,
when they express a current culture).
These two major themes occur mainly
within his practice in which Gonalo Byrne
rehearses and tests the rehabilitation
problems concerning the contemporary
city, as we can see in his most recent
projects. At the National Museum Machado
de Castro, he faced two thousand years of
history, which demanded a simultaneous
reading of the stratified layers and the
necessity for unity around its assets. In his
project for the Bank of Portugal, alongside
Joo Pedro Falco de Campos, he brought
back the original purpose of the Pombalino
block, integrating and transforming the
So Julio Church into a museum. In turn,
in the Thalia Theater, a collective project
with Barbas Lopes Architects, the ruins
lead to a clarification of the building's
former functions through the use of simple
or metaphors. In these, as in many of his
works, there isnt any orthodox theory
of rehabilitation, but it is clear that the
sensibility arises from the approach to the
project through a reading that crosscuts
all different forms of cultural expression.
On a Saturday morning, we went to
Gonalo Byrne's studio, interested in
understanding his many ideas about the
rehabilitation of cities and in how we have
become stuck in this magma of repulsion
over rehabilitation and, at the same time,
for contemporaneity itself. Nevertheless,
instead of answers, we found a lucidity
of examination, precision and rigour, a
singular perception of culture, history
and politics and an idea of what is territory
and its conditions. It wasnt an interview,
but a moment of learning. The relationship
between Portuguese architecture and
culture, territory and politics might be
vague for many. And, if that is so, this
T
interview should help make it clearer.
Today, city centres
(but not only) seem
once again to be in
crisis. Nevertheless,
they also seem to in-
scribe the solution.
Being difficult, espe-
cially in the European
context, to urbanize
at the rhythm of the
last years, could a citys rehabilita-
tion, whether of its centre or periph-
ery, be a solution?
GB: I was going to say exactly that, be-
cause when we speak of rehabilitation,
we usually speak about the city centre.
It is a situation particular to us, in the
European context. I remember that in
1993 in a Seminar in Sicily about reha-
bilitation and housing, a place where
there are still many problems in the his-
torical centre, one of the speakers saying
that, in Italy, 70% of the construction
concerned rehabilitation whereas the
other 30% was new construction. Lis-
tening to those numbers, I thought: In
Portugal, rehabilitation must be around
0.5%. That means that there were two
major problems being built in a very ef-
fective manner. One was leaving the
centres to themselves and the other
handing over the suburban outskirts to
the logic of the market, with all the prob-
lems that were already inherited, filling
the periphery with supply, especially, in
the outer cities rings. Portugal has that
problem, because the country is basi-
cally the metropolitan area of Lisbon
and only after, quite far after, the met-
ropolitan area of Porto.
Ilustration: Ana Arago
PCC: Thats a very polemic state-
ment. Why do you say it? Do you con-
sider that the metropolitan area of
Lisbon is more compact, more de-
fined, less dispersed?
GB: Its only a question of statistics,
presented in the coldness of numbers.
The metropolitan area of Lisbon has, ap-
proximately, three million people, which
corresponds to a third of the national
population, and according to the fore-
casts, by 2030, it will have grown and cor-
respond to half of the national popula-
tion, about five million inhabitants.
PCC: Another 20% to 30% in the
metropolitan area of Porto and the
rest of Portugal will be empty.
GB: I wouldnt say empty, but the pop-
ulation will be mainly settled along the
coast line or the famous Atlantic axis,
which runs from the Galicia, North of
Spain to Setbal. In fact, our Galician
friends are staring at Portugal much
more than we are looking at them. It
has been for many years that I have in-
tegrated the jury of a Galician prize
(the Juana de Vega Architecture Prize)
and when we were discussing the TGV,
they didnt understand why it was all
about a high speed railway line be-
tween Lisbon and Madrid, because
what they wanted was to use the TGV
and come to Setbal. And it makes
sense, since its the third densest axis
in Iberia. The first axis is the one that
comes from Toulon and passes through
Barcelona which I believe is called the
Mediterranean axis; the second corre-
sponds to the metropolitan area of Ma-
drid, which is extremely wide and eco-
nomically powerful, and, then, imme-
diately after, comes the Atlantic axis.
PCC: Even though its a very inter-
esting theme, weve run away from the
main question about rehabilitation.
GB: Indeed, I drifted completely
away In terms of rehabilitation Portu-
gal is at the tail of Europe. It is a process
that took a long time to kick off for sev-
eral reasons, some of which didnt af-
fect our neighbours Spain, where we
may find several fine examples and ref-
erences such as Barcelona, Vitoria and
Santiago de Compostela, among oth-
ers. I think that it is due to the strategic
measures in planning that were taken
after Francos death, one year after our
revolution, and which didnt exist here,
in Portugal. They delved into planning
in much more powerful way and with a
If old, the city
is property of
historians and
archaeologists;
if in conflict, of
sociologists; if in
transformation, it
is wrongly claimed
as property of
the architects
Homeland, August 2014
strategic vision. In Portugal, that situ-
ation didnt exist. After the revolution
of the 25th of April of 1974, there was a
prolonged state of indefinition. There
was a period right after PREC very fo-
cused in the SAAL operations. Its a
very open movement, difficult to con-
verge into concrete actions, which
moreover started to come undone
when in two years the governments had
slipped to the right. Thus, urban man-
agement was left to a very case by case
type of management with some excep-
tions such as the cases of vora and
Setbal. Manuel Salgado is connected
to both, for example. Up North, there is
the case of Guimares and Nuno Portas
came to be vice-president of Vila Nova
de Gaia. Fernandes de S was called to
the Municipal Hall of Braga. Nonethe-
less, it was all very piecemeal.
In effect, we had the problem of frozen
rents. During the time of Salazar, that
was not so much of a problem, because
inflation was very low. But, after the rev-
olution of the 25th of April, inflation shot
up dramatically and the governments
didnt have the courage to think about it
since its an extremely sensitive problem.
Evidently, that contributed to the ageing
of the city. I have been saying for some
years now, that cities have never been as
vulnerable as they are today, because of
the speed of transformation. It is known
that in one month a new city with five mil-
lion inhabitants is born while many other
cities shrink or even disappear, including
important some cities. In this specific
context, there is a loss of people living in
the centre to new centralities, close to
Homeland, August 2014
highways junctions and shopping malls...
PCC: But also because the word
demolition became a taboo.
GB: That taboo has helped the city
destroy itself.
PCC: Rehabilitation is an idea
ever more present in the architecton-
ic discourse (and not only) that never-
theless has been helping to exacerbate
certain extreme positions such as a
conservative elitism against every-
thing that is modern or may change
what was already there. Do you think
that today, and in cities where every-
thing seems to be considered heritage,
it is possible to oppose this idea?
GB: It is possible, but we need to fight
against an idea that is culturally rooted.
The city is the production of humanity,
and, from the cultural point of view,
very complex. Contrary to what would
be normal, the city has been trans-
formed into a ghetto of different forms
of knowledge, before the ghetto of rich
and poor, which is a consequence of
that. If old, the city is the property of
historians and archeologists; if it isa
city in conflict, it is the property of the
sociologists; if it is in transformation, it
is wrongly claimed as property of the
architects. We are all looking at our
own belly button, especially architects.
I speak for myself, for what I know and
have seen. If we listen to architects talk
about the city Today, we talk more
about the city as a common cultural ter-
ritory, like the last biennial Common
Ground, curated by David Chipper-
field, and intended to be, but, in truth,
the biennial ended not talking much
about the common ground. Maybe a
certain elite speaks (which is impor-
tant, I dont say it isnt), because there
are people of this elite developing inter-
esting thoughts, namely Koolhaas, call-
ing to our attention certain critical as-
pects. However, something is missing:
what happens when all of that meets
reality. I am not saying that one should
make tabula rasa of the different forms
of knowledge. We know why they his-
torically exist, but we are talking in
closed circles. This idea, that every-
thing that is transformation is vital for
the city, is an outrage to its memory.
The memory of the city is not exactly
what the historians have in mind. All
these values are not static. Identity it-
self is always being recreated. Memory
is always being recreated. I wouldnt
say that it doesnt have a repercussion
all around it, but there is a difference in
saying that everything around it is ly-
ophilised, frozen. Or, in architectonic
language, transformed into a Monu-
ment, a moment when the collective is
aware of its past, but then gives itself to
the luxury of not having a use for it. But,
obviously, it has to be paid for. There
isnt anything in the physical world of
cities that doesnt demand mainte-
nance. Nothing is eternal, not even the
Egyptian Pyramids. This idea results
from a culture that goes through this
way, it brings some questions into evi-
dence, but at the same time generates
many contradictions.
(left) Napoleonic land register, 1808-1811
PCC: The idea of living geogra-
phies, as you mention several times
in your approach to architecture, al-
ready incorporates many of your de-
sign or practical answers to these
questions, which in turn also denotes
a particularity that comes from a sin-
gular reading of each case. Could it be
a new approach concerning also what
has been happening in Italy, for in-
stance, where you have been teaching
and working for a long time now(where
several times theory has smashed the
chances of action and condemned cit-
ies to a slow death)?
GB: Living geography is a very an-
cient notion. I had the luck of having a
fantastic geography Professor. In the
first year at the University, we had phys-
ical geography, and, in the second year,
we had human geography. When we
pass from one to the other, what is typi-
cal between the so-called Nature and
what is the artefact or artifice happens.
The human geography is no more than
the humanisation of physical geography.
I prefer the Italian term: the antropolo-
gizzazione of the physical geography.
The city is that, as well as the landscape,
it results from that intersection. Why do
I say living? In the city as in the land-
scape, the historian has the need to cut
sections along time to study the relation
between what goes on in peoples heads
and what is artistic production. The ar-
chitect is at the opposite side of this. A
project is, by definition, a contemporary
activity. When I say this, people usually
stare at me, because historians have de-
fined that contemporary art is the one
that is closer in time to our experience,
50, 30, 20, 10 years. In his decisions, the
architect uses the contemporary cul-
ture, the one that belongs to that very
moment. Then, he may opt to be mimet-
ic or another thing, but it doesnt cease
to be an option of the present.
In Italy, the academic world has a se-
ries of problems which come from a long
time ago. Lecturers in Architecture
Schools are not selected based on their
architectonic production, but on a form
of career-ism largely intellectualised
and, at the beginning, marked by an ide-
ological point of view. It is easier to say
that today than it was before, because
the city was in the hands of speculation
and it has created a very large rift, where
architecture was fabricating its own cul-
ture, all around its belly button, stand-
ing outside of the city.
It is obvious that we need to have a
historical consciousness, but we are
also part of this world. In Italy, another
illusion was created, one in which the
architect is the owner of the city, and it
happens several times when they have
a small project, they disarray it, using
it to test a certain theory, but then one
does not understand it
PCC: We cannot alienate that con-
temporary condition.
GB: Exactly. When I look at these
digital prints of the city, which are sys-
tems that are not still, I recognise that,
in the historical centres, there are ex-
pressions of resistance and perennial
(right) Map of Venice by Combatti, 1847
things that make sense, but take Siena,
for example, which has an extremely
vibrant historical centre, and if we en-
ter the houses, they have lifts and, obvi-
ously, they have bathrooms Its not ar-
gued about, but when they were built,
they didnt have them. They are assur-
ing a contemporary way of living and
not the one that was at their origin.
PCC: We are in the context of the
Venice Architecture Biennale. Ven-
ice is a city where everything is con-
sidered heritage and everything is
raised to the scale of God. We know
that you have a project in Venice that
seeks to recover a previous condi-
tion of the city, lost in time (which in
itself already reveals that this ob-
structive idea against contemporary
interventions didnt make part of
Architecture
should never have
left the street.
Culturally, has
always been a
bridge. In some
cases, it was
most striking,
as for example
in pop culture
the historic continuum of city), at the
same time that emphasises another
venetian idea of occupying and living
the roof in the famous altane (a kind
of roof on the roof). Can you tell us a
little bit more about this project of
yours and what does it mean in a city
like Venice?
GB: We are celebrating, more or less,
100 years of the destruction project -
thats what the war is - wherein people
and the military entertained them-
selves thinking and designing like us,
architects: how are we going to destroy
this and that. They had an amazing suc-
cess, especially because it came during
a period of great vigour of the van-
guards and of the culture of the new,
named by the historians as the de-
stroyers. But when the destroyers pe-
riod is mentioned, the war is not, which
is strange. These wars, that had de-
stroyed on a large scale, created a mass
demand for construction. The only ex-
ample, that escaped the rule and one of
the most talked about, is probably War-
saw, reconstructed in the old fashion
way. I think that the story is not prop-
erly told, because the city was not
bombed, but it was burnt from the He-
brew ghetto. Therefore, it was not as
much about redoing, as it is said, when
much of the faades were already there.
Just to say that all this movement for
conservation makes, in fact, sense.
There has been a spectacle of destruc-
tion whether by plan, by the war or by
the argument that comes from the
past:hygiene. Venice is, in fact, a very
singular case, starting immediately with
its genesis, an extremely powerful mar-
itime power and culturally very devel-
oped, but when it started to loose power,
the Lords moved to firm land. Venice
continued to be the head, but in more of
a representative way, and it entered into
modernity precisely with an economical
problem. All the strong economic activ-
ities - petrochemical, steel mills, ship-
yards, industry - went to Mestre. And all
the wealth that came from the naval ac-
tivity went to agriculture.
Venice, a petrified historical jewel,
started to loose life. Its always the same
problem: it becomes empty. And in very
dangerous ways despite titanic efforts, as
was the case of bringing the University to
Venice or creating international events
and taking advantage of the enormous
quality of the city, not only of its architec-
ture as well as of sculpture and painting.
Venice has an incredible treasure, which
it is beginning to monetise with tourism.
A landscape totally built, with an incred-
ible density. There is a very strong move-
ment concerning conservation, which I
understand, but Venice will have to pay
the price for being, the entire city itself,
in the best of cases, a museum, because,
at the opposite, at the worst, it runs the
risk of becoming a Disneyland.
This is a very important question that
has to do with the housing project that we
have been designing for Venice. There
are several interesting works by Gino
Valle, Cino Zucchi, Siza - a beautiful pro-
ject of which unfortunately only one
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 3
Interview
building was built - Gardella in Giudecca,
a very curious case
The site for the project has histori-
cally suffered the inverse process. It
used to be, in the 19th Century, a very
porous terrain and, still in the begin-
ning of the 20th Century, with the
growth of the modern hospital fabric,
a kind of barrier was created which, in
my opinion, goes against what that part
of the city was when it was alive. The
project works on three concepts of that
physical geography of Venice. The first
is to replace that historical porosity,
which existed, and has a lot to do with
the Venetian micro-capillarity, which
is beautiful. The second is a type of pub-
lic space, which is not so present in the
Fondamenta, and corresponds to a to-
tally vertical space, very narrow, where
the sky is just a tiny strip up there. But
a fundamental strip for the life of Ven-
ice, especially because the venetian life
has developed vertically a lot. This is
present in Canalettos paintings, in
Carpaccios paintings. There is one
painting by Carpaccio, a view of the
Grand Canale, where we see lots of peo-
ple and several ceremonies happening
at several levels and, at the top, in the
altane at the top of the buildings. This
means that the city of Venice should be
looked at differently and not as an arte-
fact crystallised in time. The morphol-
ogy also has to be understood from an-
other point of view. The third concept
is the rehabilitation of the Venetian al-
tana. Its the second stratum of the
landscape. When one goes up there, it
has this magnificent richness: common
roofs and Palladian domes.
PCC: Youve already had a very
long and rich professional career.
You have already seen and lived sev-
eral professional mutations. This
will be one more. Do you think it is
important for architecture to come
to the street?
GB: Architecture should never have
left the street. The street is the city. Cul-
turally, this bridge was always present.
In some cases, it was most striking, as
for example in pop culture, which I
think is extremely important, but I was
never very seduced by it. The problem
with pop culture is that at a certain
time it became enchanted, not to say
fascinated, with the consumer society.
There are other cultural worlds besides
the Pop world. I am sorry my career
cant be longer. We are living in a time
where everything is transforming very
quickly, where the former models are
put into question, but, in turn, its an
extraordinary moment to ask how do
we put ourselves in this world. I believe
this is where the challenge lies. And it
is extremely stimulating. Maybe that is
it - when I say that architecture creates
containers for life to happen and the
city is mainly what we do - our bridge to
life. This bridge is sprouting in a very
violent manner, disorganised, with
misery and contradictions Our world
is our street. When I say our street, I
mean the city we have. Moreover, the
city is no longer the historical city. To-
day, the city is everything, including the
historical one.
PCC: If you were 30 years old,
would you be an architect?
GB: Do you know what the problem
is? Is that I keep thinking that I am 30
years old (sic).
BIOGRAPHY
Gonalo Byrne is an architect that has witnessed
many historical moments of modernity in Portugal:
the pre-April 25th revolution times, the speculative
80s, the 90s and its public investment and the
current economical crisis. Beyond his unmatched
body of work, he is also a international reference
when it comes to Portuguese architecture, with
works in Italy, Belgium and Switzerland. He is also
one of the great patrons of Portuguese architecture.
Many architects of unquestionable reputation have
worked in his studio: Aires Mateus, Paulo David, Joo
Pedro Falco de Campos, amongst others. Renowned
teacher, he has lectured in Harvard, Mendrisio,
Navarre, Coimbra, Milan and many other schools.
4 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 5

Vacant housing in Portugal Vacant housing in Portugal

Peopleless
Homes - a
landscape of
opportunities
735 128
Is the total of vacant dwellings in Portugal

12.5%

Linking the large amount of empty homes

with more dynamic renting markets and
housing rehabilitation seems the kind
of strategy the government is putting to
practice.

735,128 vacant dwellings, more 1,860 million of dwellings than families, almost
half of which built in the last decade
From the project "Foreclosures" by Andr Pais (www.andrepais.com)
6 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 7

Vacant housing in Portugal Vacant housing in Portugal

Zara ferreira & JOANA oliveira
photos Andr Pais
maps Gonalo Loureno
porto lisboa

T
here are 735,128 vacant
dwellings in Portugal. Almost
half of the ones that are for
sale were built in the last
decade.
Since the 80s, Portugal,
throughout the whole country,
has seen the increase in
number of dwellings become
higher than the growth in
number of families.
According to the last census
conducted in 2011, the number of houses in
Portugal now exceeds by 31% the number of
families: in a country with 4,043,726 families
there are 5,859,540 dwellings, that is, over
1,860 million more homes than families.
(Graphic 1: Number of conventional
dwellings and classic families, 1970-2011;
Graphic 2: Change rate of the number
of conventional dwellings and classic
families, by nuts III, 2001-2011).
The dynamics of the Portuguese housing stock
has been mainly characterized by a constructive
rhythm that is a reflection of the strong growth
which the housing market had in the past
recent decades. This was developed with a
clear focus on the construction of new housing,
causing a strong increase in the number of
vacant dwellings in the whole country.
Of the total accommodation registered in 2011,
68.1% were of habitual residence, 19.3% were
Vacant
houses on 18
Portuguese
counties
About the construction
of these maps:
In the construction of the Vacant
Houses in Portugal maps QuantumGIS
(QGIS) was used. QGIS, not only allowed
us to analyse the spatial distribution
of vacant property, but also to create
colourful visualizations of data.
All the data used in this study was 0-4
sourced from Statistics Portugal
(Instituto Nacional de Estatstica, 1-4
INE) and was collected during the last
Census (2011). 4-9
Ideally we would have worked with
9-15
disaggregated data but, as this data
does not exist or, at least, was not
15-23
made public, we ended up working
with statistical data, aggregated in
23-34
geographical entities or blocks, the
same that is used to support the 34-50
Census campaigns in Portugal.
By combining both layers, statistical 50-74
blocks and vacant data, in QGIS, we
were able to create these vacant maps 74-121
for 18 counties in Portugal.
GONALO LOURENO 121-298
ALL GRAPHICS INFORMATION SOURCE: INE (STATISTICS PORTUGAL) http://www.ine.pt/, CENSOS 1970, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011 / EUROCONSTRUCT, 74TH CONFERENCE (GRAPHIC 13)

68,1%
of secondary residence and 12.6% were vacant number, proportion and variation of classic habitual Of the total accomodation registered:
Distribution of conventional dwellings according to
1 4 6
Number of conventional dwellings and classic families

+1.860
the form of occupation residence dwellings by occupation regime
5 859 540

1970-2011
2011 2001-2011
5 019 425

Almost half of 9%
4 154 975

4 043 726

the vacant houses 73,5% 70,8%

3 650 757

68,1% 73%
3 382 884

3 500 000 76%

3 147 403
2 924 443

available for sale was

2 702 215

3 000 000
2 302 980

2 500 000
built in the last decade 2 000 000 7% Habitual residence
More dwellings than people

19,3%
1 500 000
15,9% 10,5% 18,4% 19,3% 1 000 000
123%
1970 1981 1991 2001 2011 10,8% 12,6% 21% 20%
500 000
Classic families Conventional Dwellings 1991 2001 2011
0 3% 7%
(Graphic3: Distribution of conventional
Habitual residence Secondary residence/seasonal use Empty
dwellings according to the form of Change rate of the number of conventional dwellings
Proprietrio Arrendatrio ou Outra situao
Distribution of conventional dwellings according to the
2 3
subarrendatrio
occupation, by nuts III, 2011). Regarding and classic families form of occupation by nuts III
Variation 2001 2011
the vacant accommodation, between 2001 and 2001-2011 Distribution of vacant dwellings according to their
5
2011
2011 there was a registered increase of 35.2%, purpose by nuts III
Ave 2011
well above what was recorded between 1991 Distribution of conventional dwellings according
and 2001 (23.5%). Regio Autnoma da Madeira
Entre Douro e Vouga
Grande Porto Cvado
7 to the form of occupation in the EU member states
Last year available
Secondary residence

12,6%
In 2011, from a total of 735.128 vacant Algarve Grande Lisboa Grande Porto
dwellings, more than half (58.7%) was in an Pennsula de Setbal Regio Autnoma dos Pennsula de Setbal
expectant situation - not available on the Cvado Aores Algarve
market - or awaiting for demolition (3.9%). Oeste Tmega Romnia
Beira Interior Sul
Regio Autnoma dos Aores Pennsula de Setbal Estnia
22.4% were available for sale and 15% for rent. Ave
Grande Lisboa Cvado Hungria
(Graphic4: Distribution of conventional Entre Douro e Vouga
Grande Porto Regio Autnoma da Eslovquia
dwellings according to the form of Minho-Lima
Baixo Vouga Madeira Espanha
occupation: 2011; Graphic1 5: Distribution Oeste
Aveiro Baixo Vouga Eslovnia
of vacant dwellings according to their Regio Autnoma da Madeira
Vacant houses
Pinhal Litoral Lezria do Tejo Letnia
purpose, by nuts III, 2011). Grande Lisboa
Tmega Pinhal Litoral Irlanda
Baixo Mondega
If we consider the dwellings for secondary Entre Douro e Vouga Alentejo Central Malta
Baixo Alentejo
residence as vacant since it corresponds to Lezria do Tejo Baixo Mondego Grcia housing: Percentage of new Construction in Portugal
Pinhal Interior Sul
their state most of the year, 31.9% of the Minho-Lima
2001
Mdio Tejo Portugal

97,5%
Baixo Vouga
accommodations in Portugal are generally Baixo Mondego Oeste Lezria do Tejo Unio Europeia (UE-27)
empty. Alentejo Litoral Do Lafes Alto Alentejo Luxemburgo
Do Lafes Minho-Lima
Between 2001 and 2011, the number of vacant Do Lafes Reino Unido
Mdio Tejo Baixo Alentejo
house for sale increased 56.3%, pointing to Tmega Itlia
Alentejo Central Alto Alentejo
the existence of a housing market devoted to Pinhal Interior Norte Chipre
Cova da Beira Alentejo Litoral
selling instead of renting (73.2% of the classic Regio Autnoma dos Aores Blgica
Beira interior Sul Cova da Beira
housing for habitual residence is occupied by Mdio Tejo Finlndia
Douro Douro
the owner). (Graphic 6: Number, proportion Cova da Beira Polnia
Baixo Alentejo Alto Trs-os-Montes Pinhal Litorial Pases Baixos
and variation of classic habitual residence Pinhal Interior Norte Pinhal Interior Norte Alentejo Central Frana
2011

80%
dwellings by occupation regime, 2001- Alto Trs-os -Montes Beira Interior Sul Serra da Estrela ustria
2011). In fact, Portugal is among the countries Alto Alentejo Serra da Estrela Alto Trs-os-Montes Repblica Checa
of the European Union with the highest Pinhal Interior Sul Pinhal Interior Sul Alentejo Litorial Dinamarca
proportion of accommodation occupied by Beira interior Norte Beira Interior Norte Beira Interior Norte Alemanha
Serra da Estrela Algarve
owners (above the EU average of 70% ) Douro Sucia
(Graphic 7: Distribution of conventional -10% 0% 40% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 80% 70% 90% 100%
dwellings according to the system of
ownership in the Member States of the EU). Change rate of the number of conventional dwellings Change rate of the number of conventional families Habitual residence Secondary residence/seasonal use Empty To sell To rent To demolish Others Occupied by owner Rental Others
8 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 9

Vacant housing in Portugal Vacant housing in Portugal

aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 11.pdf 1 09/07/14 18:48
aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 17.pdf 1 09/07/14 18:41
aveiro bragana far0 vora

aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 9.pdf 1 09/07/14 18:53

aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 2.pdf 1 09/07/14 18:43

castelo branco

beja

braga coimbra

1,45 73% 75%

emptiness is not a outcome of obsolescence
From a total of 735,128 (Graphic 10: Distribution of classical Distribution of conventional dwellings of usual residence according

vacant dwellings, more

buildings by conservation status). In fact, 8 to occupation index
1991-2011
almost half of the housing available for sale was

than an half (58.7%) built in the last decade.

Of the occupied accommodation
This excess of available housing allowed, in the 65% are without repair needs
was not available in last 10 years, the number of vacant housing in 57% Of the population owns it's home

the market neither

the market to exceed the quantitative deficiencies 49% Is the Average number of
recorded in all of the portuguese regions (Graphic homes per family in portugal Index of the number of vacant conventional Coverage rate of quantitative housing needs by nuts III
awaiting for demolition 11: Variation rate of the number of classic
28% 27% 24% 11 dwellings by nuts III
12 2001-2011
vacant dwellings, by nuts III, 2001-2011). From
23% 2001-2011
a situation when some regions around the country 16% 11% Distribution of conventional buildings according to
Algarve

10
When we look at the occupied house, we quickly once had a clear deficit in the supply of vacant Algarve Serra da Estrela
Under-occupied dwelling Dwelling with neither shortage Overcrowded dwellings their state of conservation
understand that, in a similar way, many of them dwellings, many regions now have a surplus that nor surplus of rooms
1970 -2011 Regio Autnoma da Madeira Cova da Beira
are under-occupied. More than half of dwellings almost doubles or triples demand (Graphic 12: Cova da Beira Alto Alentejo

3 544 389
of usual residence (54%) are considered normal Coverage rate of quantitative housing needs, total number of conventional family dwellings Baixo Mondego Beira Interior Norte
or have an extra division, whereas only 11% are by nuts III, 2001-2011). Oeste Beira Interior Sul
classed as overcrowded. Despite this scenario, in 2011 Portugal still Lezria do Tejo Oeste
While between 2001 and 2011 there was showed values in the productivity segment 3 991 112 Pinhal Interior Sul
Pinhal Litoral
Pinhal Interior Norte
Grande Porto
an increase of 28.2% in the sub-crowded of rehabilitation below the European average
Pinhal Interior Norte Regio Autnoma da Madeira
accommodation (more than 569,764 places), we (26%, with an European average of 34.9%), More than half of dwellings
Classical buildings
Baixo Vouga Cvado
also saw a reduced existence of overcrowded with a much higher rate of the construction of usual residence (54%) is
considered normal or have a
3 551 229 Do Lafes Ave
dwellings with three or more divisions required of new buildings as the main thread of the Regio Autnoma dos Aores Pinhal Interior Sul
(0.6%) and of overcrowded accommodation with construction sector (40.0%): In2011 the country division in excess, whereas Mdio Tejo Minho-Lima
two rooms required (2%) (Graphic 8: Evolution saw 31,381 new dwellings be completed, and just 11% is overcrowded Serra da Estrela Alto Trs-os-Montes
of the habitual residence dwellings by
stocking rate, 1991-2011).
this accounted for 80% of the total housing
units built that year. The rehabilitation of
3 055 512 2%
Alto Alentejo
Ave
Mdio Tejo
Baixo Mondego
In order to understand this phenomenon it also residential buildings accounted for 20% of the Alentejo Central Do Lafes
should be noted that the average size of the
Portuguese family has gradually been declining,
productivity of the construction sector, the
segment with less significance of the national
1991 2001 2011 3% Pennsula de Setbal
Grande Porto
Lezria do Tejo
Tmega
currently standing for 2.6 persons (3.7 persons
per family in 1970) (Graphic 9: Average size
level (Graphic 13: Distribution of productivity
in the construction sector in EU countries 9
Average Family Size (members)
1970-2011 7% 71% Douro
Tmega
Baixo Alentejo
Entre Douro e Vouga
Beira Interior Norte Pinhal Litoral
of classic families). The slowing down of the according to the segment, 2011) Grande Lisboa Alentejo Central

3,7 3,3 3,1 2,8 2,6

demographic growth in Portugal is noteworthy, Within a national framework in which there Alentejo Litoral Grande Lisboa
accompanied by an increase in the aging of the is an average of 1,45 homes per family and 73% Cvado Pennsula de Setbal
population, placing Portugal as the country of the
EU Member States with the highest aging index
of the population actually owns its home, the
construction of new housing buildings presents very 17% Alto Trs-os-Montes
Minho-Lima
Alentejo Litoral
Douro
(127.8, above the EU average placed at 112.2). low market potential in the coming years, therefore Baixo Alentejo Baixo Vouga
It is also worth mentioning that 75% of the it is important to analyze the ability of the national Entre Douro e Vouga Regio Autnoma dos Aores
occupied accommodation is in a state of building stock to welcome the development of the No repair works needed In need of small repair works Beira Interior Sul
0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 250% 300% 350%
disrepair, emphasizing that the problem of rehabilitation and rental markets. 1970 1981 1991 2001 2011 In need of moderate repair works In need of major repair works Extremely run down 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 2001 2011
 10 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Vacant housing in Portugal
guarda
aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 13.pdf 1 09/07/14 18:58
portalegre
The rehabilitation of
residential buildings in 2011
represented the segment
with least significance
at the national level
Some signs of regeneration on the
outdated housing structure
Concerned about the drastic numbers revealed in
the last Census (2011), some public authorities
and municipalities have started to realize they
needed to change their housing policies with
strategies that would focused on answering
the new problems of a society submerged in an
economic crisis and with problems of vacancy in
housing and urban centres.
In fact by 2013, 10,9 % of the Portuguese were
facing a severe material deprivation, 2,3% more
than the previous year. Overall in 2009, the
average annual income of portuguese families
was 23,811 and later in 2011, it was calculated
that 29,2% from the total income was spent with
expenses related to housing. Significantly higher
than in the last decade when it was analysed
to be 19,8% by the year 2000. (Graphic 14:
Average annual household spend on COICOP,
2010-2011) For instance housing owners that
used credit had an average of 395 euros montly
outgoings with banks, while portuguese tenants
would spent on average 235 euros on rents,
showing a significant reduction of fixed expenses
for a family.
In that sense linking the large amount of empty
homes spread in the portuguese territory with
more dynamic renting markets and housing
rehabilitation seems the kind of the strategy
the government is putting into practice through
several programs and policies which are made
possible with the creation of partnerships
between public and private institutions.
For instance, Mercado Social de Arrendamento
(Affordable Rent Market) is one measure of the
states Social Emergency Program and started
in 2012. During the last years of the crisis,
banks saw themselves owning a great deal of
housing property due to all the repossessions of
mortgaged buildings . As a response to this the
government invited financial institutions to create
a bank of buildings available for a special
renting market where homes would cost 20% to
30% less than market prices. The municipalities
have used this to channel the homes to lower
middle class families who are stuck in a sort
of wage limbo, earn too much to be allowed a
social house but cant quite afford to rent through
the private renting market. Soon after it started
other public institutions related to rehabilitation
and social security joined the program offering
more buildings to the recently created bank of
properties to rent.
A successful policy that encourages young
people to take hold of their lives and be more
independent is a governments program which
has been rolled out by municipalities called
Porta 65 - Jovem. Students, working-students, or
young professionals at the start of their career,
and are up to 30 years old, can profit from a
public subsidy which translates into a percentage
of the value of their house rent.
In terms of public investment, the government
managed to get a loan of 50 million euros from
the European Investment Bank destined to
fund 50% of housing rehabilitation projects, or
related, that wont be put up for sale, but instead
rented through social programs. Reabilitar para
Arrendar ( Rehabilitate to Rent) candidates can
be the municipalities, municipal companies or
urban regeneration institutions. In the first round
of applications 25 municipalities presented a
total of 78 interventions which will turn into
leiria
aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 12.pdf 1 09/07/14
santarm
hundreds of affordable homes to rent.
Another way the government found to encourage
the private sector to invest in rehabilitation
was to facilitate these projects by giving them
tax benefits and by simplifying regulations and
construction permits. A new by-law dispenses
from compliance, for a period of seven years,
some of the urban rehabilitations regulation for
buildings which are more than 30 years old and
that are mainly used for housing purposes. This
easement of regulations applies mainly to the
requirement to maintain minimum areas, ceiling
heights and the installations of lifts, but still the
government states that this measure can reduce
construction costs from 20 to 40%, making
the process more attractive for investors and
promoting an urban policy capable of answering
the necessities and resources of todays citizens.
Further to this, and on a domestic level, for the
first time ever, this year, tenants will be allowed
to discount 15% (up to a maximum of 500 euros)
of their annual rent payments against their
annual tax returns from 2013.
At the same time there are also liberal
professionals who felt the need to act and have
organized themselves around a common goal: to
identify these vacant spaces and create ways to
occupy them. (Re)habitar Portugal (re-inhabit),
Agulha num Palheiro (Needle in a Haystack) and
Rs-do-Cho (Ground Floor) are examples of
proactive professihat refused to accommodate
with the situation.
By 2013, 10,9 % of
portuguese were facing
a severe material
deprivation, 2,3% more
than the previous year
Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 11
Vacant housing in Portugal
aloj_vagos_pt_s_etiquetas 5.pdf 1 09/07/14 19:07
SETBAL VIANA do castelo
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19:00
Vila real VISEU
Distribution of productivity in the Average annual household spend on COICOP
13 14
(re)habitar Portugal
construction sector in EU countries 2010-2011
according to the segment / 2011
Interview: Gonalo Loureno
5 958
Portugal
Housing, expenses with water, electricity,
26% 40% 34%
gas and other types of fuel
Whats your main occupation?
Im an IT professional, currently working for the energy
mapper. If the building does not exist yet, create the
building first and tag the building as vacant, if the
2957
industry building already exists just tag it as vacant. The result is
Transportation How did (Re)Habitar Portugal happened? stored internally but OSM does not visually distinguish
At first, when I was searching for a place to live, vacant from normal buildings. Our web app will do
2703
Alemanha housing was just a necessity like for anyone else. After this on the fly, allowing the user to see the results
that, when I was taking my degree in GIS, it became a immediately.
Itlia Food products and non-alcoholic beverages
subject of study. At this point I realized that in Portugal What will be the next step for (Re)Habitar
2111
Dinamarca its very difficult to access official data, in particular, Portugal?
data held by public institutions. This was when the In October will be launching the web version of the
Sucia
Hotels, restaurants, cafs and similar initiative (re)habitar portugal came about. We make use app and until then, we will be promoting the initiative
of OpenStreetMap (1), and other available tools, for in schools and municipalities in order to expand our
1277
Blgica
creating and editing geo data about vacant buildings community of sensors and to draw attention to the
Other goods and services which hopefully can be freely used by others. housing problem in Portugal.
Frana
From the many ways available to put into practice
1186
Irlanda what you like doing, youve chosen a very politic
(1) http://www.openstreetmap.org/
Health one. Can you tell the reasons behind this?
Espanha
Its only political because its rooted in the publics Gonalo Loureno is the founder of (Re)Habitar
1073
interest to access information. Portugal. Following the spirit of Vamos Mapear
Holanda
Leisure, entertainment and culture How does the group work and act? Portugal, the main purpose of this initiative is to share
Finlndia Well, the group acts like any other group of OSM geographic content about the state of degradation and
864
contributors, on a voluntary basis. We are anonymous abandonment of housing in Portugal, in a global map of
Reino Unido Furniture, decorative items, household appliances citizens that either share some kind of concern, free online access. The slogan is simple: Make up your
Hungria and expenses with household maintenance professional or non professional, for matters of territory, own street.
or that enjoying building great detailed maps of the The idea came from the shocking numbers: In 2011 one
757
Portugal space that surrounds us. third of the Portuguese housing was vacant, in 2001 only
Clothing and Shoes How can people contribute? 34.1% of the vacant house directly served the market.
Repblica Checa
At this stage all contributions are made through OSM, In Portugal there are like 30 000 families living in slums
680
but in the near future we will be launching a web and and more than half million families living in overcrowded
ustria
Communications mobile application, tailored to fit our needs, that will homes. Does this make any sense? Gonalo believes
Eslovquia leverage the use of OSM and the tools available for that if there was an illustrative map of this reality, things
441
Polnia
creating vacant building data. Anyway, to contribute
just start by identifying and locating the vacant
could change. With OSM anyone can contribute for the
mapping of vacant properties in Portugal. Learn how at:
Education
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% buildings (they show obvious signs of degradation and
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/
384
abandonment) on your street, then head to the map of
Building rehabilitation Building Construction Alcoholic beverages, tobacco, your neighbourhood or city and become an unstoppable (re)habitar_Portugal
Engineering works narcotics/drugs
12 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 13

Vacant housing in Portugal Vacant housing in Portugal

Foreclosures

Andr Pais
andrepais.com

In Portugal, due to the social andeconomic crisis and the austerity measures performed by the
government, more and more families are unable to pay the loans of their homes. According to the
Ministry of Justice, in the first quarter of 2013, 28 families weredeclaring bankruptcy every day.
The increasing number of layoffs, wage freezes and divorces are all reasons contributing to the
disruption of modern families.
During 2012 and 2013 I went to these houses, that are now for sale, to find out what these people
left, and what they took with them.The photographs aspire todocument the interior of some family's
homes that belong to this reality, just as they left them.
These are empty spaces that were once filled with someone's dream. A dream that would prove to
be too farfetched.
14 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Temporary
The idea of creating a space for open civic discussions about the city
that builds on domesticity
A temporary
house
LIKE ARCHITECTS
The architectural scheme that sup-
ports our research project crosscut-
ting themes such as Porto, Transience
and Housing - proposes to build a tem-
porary home for four architects, inside
the old lobby of a bank, with direct con-
nections to citys main avenue. This is
a project of domestication of a commer-
cial space that intervenes on the insti-
tutional and monumental scale of the
place - reinforced by its spatial symme-
try and also by the two square base col-
umns, clad with red marble - via a
hinged spatial device built in plaster-
board. Such device (re)defines domes-
tic moments, and accentuates their
containment in a building that opens
up to the city and its discussion.
Conceptually, the space is, from the
starting point - the moment where it
touches the avenue and develops in, a
successive gradation of intimacy in which
the social interaction spaces - living, eat-
ing, cooking - are directly exposed to pas-
sers-by through the large glazed open-
ings, while the more private spaces the
four bedrooms - protect themselves from
onlookers behind a second hidden layer,
facing the pre-existing building and be-
ing only visitable to those who enter the
temporary residence.
The awareness of the performative na-
ture of the home results in a multitude
of possible ways to visit it, achievable
through various routes, more or less
maze-like, in which it is possible to be
simultaneously inside and outside of
the home, without ever leaving the
same space. Being a house inside an-
other house (the former bank) de-
signed to be visited and open to peo-
ple, doors and windows - or, more spe-
cifically, their absence - are of particu-
lar importance, as moments of rela-
tionship between two different spaces.
In this context, two types of voids are
formalized: the ones created by sub-
tractions from the solid wall - drawing
the negative of the traditional doors
and windows - and the ones resulting
from the tension between two oppo-
site walls. While the absence of doors
reinforces the continuity and display
the nature of the ephemeral space, the
empty windows frame the old walls
and the interstitial spaces, increasing
the depth of the new interiors.
Therefore, two kind of spaces are
created: the introverted ones interi-
ors that open to the container trough
small windows - and the extroverted
ones those that frankly open to the
original building through the spacing
between two walls.
The continuous and meandering
wall, freshly painted white, contrasts
with the old, worn down building and
establishes the domestic regulatory
ceilings at 2.40 m height. Thus, to the
existing marble and carpets that mate-
rialize the various spaces and floors,
plasterboard was added a paradig-
matic building material of the late
twentieth century characterized by
ease of continuous reformulation - that
builds the ephemeral walls, this time
without finishes, in order to allow for
its subsequent re-use.
With a fully equipped kitchen and the
exhaustion ensured directly to the out-
side, it is only the bathroom - or perhaps
the renowned suites that hinder the
possibility of including this house in a
brochure of the latest real estate devel-
opment, emphasizing its excellent, ex-
citing location right in the midst of the
city buzz. The lack of toilets in the new
build is justified by the existence of an
operational one in the first floor of the
building, which is accessible only by lift,
as the employers of the bank would have
once done, in the old times.
Being a home without a ceiling, the
light that enters through the windows
during the day washes all the way
through,even to the areas further
apart from the large street windows. At
night, isolated spotlight come down
from the original ceiling comfortably
illuminating each of the spaces. The do-
mestic spotlights reveal this once emp-
ty space, and returns it now inhabited
- to the city.
axonometria.pdf
1
08/07/14
12:00
New lexicons of
hospitality
MARIANA PESTANA
The project that I am developing with
LIKEarchitects, in the context of the
Official Portuguese Representation for
the Venice Architecture Biennale, re-
flects upon the transitory. In face of the
radical transformation of the ways of
dwelling (emigrants, consultants, mu-
sicians, researchers and students are
only some examples of people who live
in transit) the housing policies and ty-
pologies have remained relatively inert,
and perpetuate a system that might no
longer fit the contemporary society.
Through the domestication of a former
bank and its step-by-step conversion
into a house we raise the question, can
the contemporary city, where such
transits flow, offer new lexicons of hos-
pitality that encompass the transitory?
It is from our new address at 66 Avenida
dos Aliados, a building that still main-
tains the austerity and grandeur of the
banking institution that once occupied
it, that we discuss this question. Besides
our own experience and the relation-
ship that we establish with citizens that
walk in through the doors of our house,
we have invited a group of people from
various fields and backgrounds to dis-
cuss it with us. Through a public pro-
gramme of breakfasts, lunches, din-
ners and late night meals, we cross per-
spectives, raise new questions and de-
lineate possible ideas.
We moved in on the Friday 29th of
June after an impulse to become, our-
selves, transitory inhabitants of the
city. The transitory condition is present
both in the timeframe of our inhabita-
tion, which comprises four weeks, and
in the character of the building, which
was once a bank and is now derelict un-
til it finds a new function. We live here
in between. Between our former and
future houses and between the build-
ings former and future use. We are not
squatters. Our residence exists within
a legal and cultural framework from
the moment it constitutes part of the
official representation of Portugal in
the Venice Biennale and it exists within
a programme of artistic residences sup-
ported by Portos City Council. The
white walls designed by LIKEarchi-
tects reduce the monumental scale of
the bank and suit the space to our do-
mestic activities, yet their scenograph-
ic character accentuates the artificial-
ity of the residence. The vynil stuck on
the windowpane identifies the Bien-
nale framework and recognizes the
project sponsorship in the form of log-
os, it reveals the artifice and institu-
tionalizes the occupation. This is a well-
behaved squatt. Legal, acknowledged,
agreed. Subsequently, it is not a squatt.
So what is it?
We are not the first architects whose
conscious, staged inhabitation consti-
tutes a cultural project. The French col-
lective EXYZT, for example, is known
for living publicly in their buildings
during and after the construction
works. Not so long ago, in 2006, they
lived in an exhibition context, at the
Venice Biennale. METAvilla was a pro-
Homeland, August 2014
ject curated by Patrick Bouchain in
which he invited the collective to inhab-
it the French pavilion at the Giardini,
constructing a scaffold structure inside
it and living there for the duration of
the Biennale. The aim there was to em-
phasise the social nature of architec-
ture, to present architecture as occupa-
tion rather than a built object, as ex-
plained in Spatial Agency, a book edited
by Tatjana Schneider and Jeremy Till.
With a very different aim and many
years before, the architect Erno Gold-
finger lived for two months in his newly
built Balfron Tower, an East London
social housing block. As explained by
Bartlett Architectural Design PhD stu-
dent David Roberts, Goldfinger re-
ferred to his residence as a sociological
experiment and used it to document
and remedy design issues by meeting
residents and asking questions. He
wrote a report for the GLC based on his
experiences and residents feedback,
an empirical exercise which generated
international press coverage and estab-
lished a strong relationship with resi-
dents who made Goldfinger an honor-
ary member of Tenants Association.
The aim here had more of a didactic
and PR nature: to demonstrate the ar-
chitects faith in the building model and
gather evidence from the tenants of the
tower to feed the design of future build-
ings, including the Trellick Tower.
The aim of our project is to constitute
a non-scripted platform of discussion,
a place for exchanging ideas. We do not
yet know what the consequences of it
will be. But we know that when we in-
habit this former bank we carry with us
the bidonvilles that housed Portuguese
emigrants during the 60s in France,
the 2000 families that occupied a social
block in Lisbon 10 days after the revolu-
tion and all the others who followed,
the 6000 Portuguese who would re-
turn daily to the country after the colo-
nial war and the 7700 who found home
in Lisbon hotels for an indefinite
amount of time, those who still live in
informal settlements behind housing
blocks in central Porto, and even the
Romanian immigrants who live in a
shop front a few blocks from here, in
Rua do Cames, It is urgent to talk
about the ways in which architecture
responds and defies such realities.
The architect and academic Reinhold
Martin recently wrote a critique to the
2014 Venice Architecture Biennale,
Fundamentals: Absorbing Modernity
1914-2014, in which he mentioned the
original twelve* architectural elements
identified by Rem Koolhaas, the chief
curator of this edition floor, door,
wall, ceiling, toilet, facade, balcony,
window, corridor, hearth, roof, and
stair and the unacceptable absence of
the number thirteen: the land. The land
as real estate, property, territory. The
land as the element without which any
of the others could exist, a territory
contested between property develop-
ers, state, owners and occupants. Per-
haps our proposal does provide an an-
swer to such absence, in that it is in the
condition of the in-transit inhabitant
without soil, property or territory that
it draws the basis for possible new lexi-
cons of hospitality.
Homeland, August 2014
Diary of the first 8 days
Day 1 Day 3
For the first time, we opened the
doors of our house to the city.
Amongst more than 50 spontaneous
guests, friends and fellow architects,
we proudly sat, in the living room, five
eminent guests at our sofa : (1) the
State Secretary of Culture Jorge Bar-
reto Xavier, who praised the underly-
ing risk and pertinence of the project;
(2) the Culture Alderman Paulo Cun-
ha e Silva who stated the relevance of
the project in face of the current con-
ditions of the city of Porto; (3) the
Housing and Social Action Alderman
Jose Manuel Pizarro who referred to
the traditional maxim "so many emp-
ty houses and so many homeless peo-
ple"; (4) the Urbanism Alderman Ma-
nuel Correia Fernandes who talked
about a new kind of citizen which he
called the "passer-by", a growing ty-
pology that requires new housing
frameworks; and (5) the chief curator
of the Portuguese Representation in
Venice, Pedro Campos Costa, who
presented Homeland - News From
Portugal, the Portuguese Pavilion.
The informality provided by the do-
mestic setting of the residence put the
guests at ease - even if a little tight
sharing the same sofa - which was in-
teresting and made us think that in-
deed the setting might create a par-
ticular democratic and informal at-
mosphere between guests with differ-
ent backgrounds and interests.
Day 2 Day 5
Today we read our project through the
words of others. Some describe it as
an occupation or an open door to the
city, stating that it looks like a per-
formance, not being one while others
label it as an artistic residence. Most-
ly, the news focus is on the fact that we
will really live here and sleep here, as
well as on the broader issue being dis-
cussed: transitory citizens and transi-
tory buildings.
More information at:
www.thinkingtransitory.blogspot.com
D1
Architect Pedro Bandeira kindly of-
D1
fered to visit us and cook us lunch. He
made a simple delicious pasta and over
lunch we talked about housing in Por-
to and in Brazil, about the Lagarteiro
social housing block and our resi-
dence. Bandeira argued that the own-
ers of empty buildings should be made
aware and responsible for the lack of
housing that affects many in the coun-
try. He noted the fact that this project D3
is taking place in a former bank, in a
context where banks are not taking
responsibility and they should for
the current economic and social crisis
as well as for the amount of vacant
buildings in the City Centre.
Day 4
Early visit from Ms Maria da Assuno
Pereira Monteiro, who worked in the
bank that once occupied the building
as a cleaner between 2004 and 2011.
She told us that she was really happy D4
with the possibility to enter the space
again and said "it is a shame that the
space is empty, it should be inhabited,
all of it".
D5
Lunch with Gui Castro Felga, where
she told us about her renowned Worst
Tours, critical guided tours for tour-
ists that show the real Porto with its
many problems, behind the beautiful
historical faades. about the need to implement a lending
Afternoon visit from Mr Joo Carnei-
ro Soares. He knew the project since
its inception and even called the phone
booth in front of our house! We talked
about the available offer for transitory D5
inhabitants of the city, he told us that
in the 60's many people lived in small
scale informal hotels often for months
and even years, in Porto. Another op-
tion was the famous "islands", infor-
mal settlements built in the interior of
housing blocks that were usually gov-
erned by an anonymous person - not
the owner - and rented at very afford-
able prices. These usually had one toi-
let to be shared by all the residents of
the "island". D6
D7
D8
Day 6 Day 8
Today we hosted the first open conver-
sation at the house, having received
more than 30 people in our living
room. It lasted for more than three
hours (we are still trying to figure out
if that is a good thing or a bad thing)
and the guests were Ins Moreira,
Anselmo Canha and Jrmy Pajeanc
and Jorge Velhote. Ins started by de-
constructing the theme of the conver-
sation derelict buildings arguing
that the former conditions, that such
buildings entailed before the financial
crisis, are not operative any longer. Ac-
cording to her, moving away from the
semantics of real estate (empty, va-
cant) might bring us closer to the is-
sues at stake. She usually refers to
empty buildings as brown rooms to
reflect their historical baggage, their
accumulation of histories. With
Anselmo we discussed the process of
transformation of a shopping mall
Stop - that was built in the 1980s in
Porto and after being empty for a few
years gradually gave room to music
studios. Anselmo explained that at the
moment there are over 100 bands at
the mall, and they have recently
formed an orchestra, and that helped
them gain cultural significance before
the city authorities. In face of a legal
process with the city council, the
bands formed a strong community
wishing to remain at the shopping
mall. Jrmy is a French artist who has
been living in Porto for 6 years. He
manifested his surprise towards the
lack of value attributed to the 19th cen-
tury houses that lay empty in the cen-
tre of Porto in contrast to the demand
for such types of buildings in Paris.
The conversation concluded that there
are three main landlords in Porto: the
city council, Santa Casa da Misericr-
dia (catholic church institution) and
the banks. There was a consensus
would provisionally take buildings
policy in the city of Porto, where the
city council would loan vacant build-
ings on a temporary basis for cultural
activities and potentially housing. The
solution, according to the architect Pe-
dro Jordo who attended the discus-
sion, must inevitably comprise a public
policy for culture and social action.
Day 7
We watched the documentary De-
troit: The Bankruptcy of a Dream, di-
rected by Thierry Derouet. We over-
heard the following comments from
our three guests: from automobile in-
dustry to small scale farming. Its glo-
balization, a space for claiming, de-
manding, which would not be possible
in an organized and functional society.
Its a space of freedom.
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 15
Temporary
We watched the documentary Es.
Col.A da Fontinha, which shows the
occupation of a vacant school in Porto
by an activist group for social and di-
dactic activities that was embraced by
the local community and evicted by
the authorities. After the film, we dis-
cussed the theme of occupation with
Jos Soeiro, a sociologist who was also
a leftist candidate for the Mayor of
Porto and Carlos Moreira, a designer
and member of the association Fora
da Porta.
The discussion was rich and lively,
with the themes being approached
from different perspectives. We noted
the need for emergency housing cen-
tres in Porto or other models for tem-
porary inhabitation that can offer dig-
nity to residents. It was also men-
tioned that the city council must make
its inventory of properties available to
the public. There was a big debate
about the value of conflict and about
the paradoxical relationship between
occupying and negotiating with au-
thorities. If occupation serves to deter-
mine the terms of negotiation a priori,
there is a moment of dialogue that
should be aimed and honoured by both
parties occupants and authorities.
The discussion then geared towards
the possibility of manipulating legisla-
tion to encourage private landlords to
lend their buildings to those in need of
them, the potential incentives for
landlords such as the rehabilitation
of the buildings but also the protection
and increased value offered by occupa-
tion, and alternative current models
such as bailment contracts. Jos
Soeiro criticized the Countrys hous-
ing policy, which has transformed Por-
tugal into a country of property own-
ers, instead of tenants, and the social
implications of such model. He pro-
posed a system where the city council
from private owners, refurbish them
and have them rented at low cost for
enough time as to cover the refurbish-
ment expenses, then return it to the
owners. This model would benefit all
parties the city by offering more
housing and the proprietor by refur-
bishing their property at no cost. We
talked about international models
such as Camelot, an international
property management services pro-
vide with a growing network of offices
in Europe (United Kingdom, France,
Belgium, Ireland, France and Germa-
ny). Their live-in guardian scheme
provides housing at symbolic rent in
exchange for protection of the proper-
ties of their clients. Their website,
which addresses property owners,
reads: Vacant property is an easy tar-
get for vandals, squatters and thieves
who present a very real threat to your
investment as well as holding up any
plans you may have for the property.
In response, Camelot offer the pro-ac-
tive Live-in Guardian solution that
vastly reduces these risks for a fraction
of the cost of traditional security.
While Guardians are in residence, the
property is secured; reducing risk and
eliminating any delay in response to
crime and maintenance issues on site.
Live-in Guardians are not tenants,
they are residing in your vacant prop-
erty as a security solution and there-
fore require just 3 weeks notice before
your property can be handed back for
its primary use. The service provides
clients with the peace of mind that the
property is safe, secure and retaining
its value while vacant.
16 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Temporary
Excerpts taken from the Houses Visitors book
(30-06-2014)
Paulo Moreira
I walked past the door and was called
inside...
(30-06-2014)
Maria de Ascenso Pereira
Monteiro (former employee at
Finibanco)
It is a shame its empty, I would like it to
be entirely inhabited. I was very happy
to be able to walk inside it again.
(30-06-2014)
Joo Carneiro Soares
At present, I believe the issue of
temporary housing in Porto is solved by
the amount of hostels, small hotels, by
renting small houses or rooms at very
amenable prices, from the prospective
tenants point of view. At the moment,
its only in the area of aparthotels that
Porto does not have a reasonable offer.
(30-06-2014)
Gui Castro Felga
What would happen if you decided not to
leave this place at the end of the month?
Wondering about Porto in times of austerity and contrasts
A Tale of Two Cities
The worst Tours
theworsttours.weebly.com
(Promenade Urbanistique larger in
scale (and degree of uncertainty) than
Le Corbusier's Promenade Architec-
turale, this is a walk through ideas
and proposals that are the city, re-
thinking power structures and strug-
gles along the way)
Tourism is, for us, a burnt word. To
travel, on the other hand, is to get in-
volved in a place - and not only in its
bright circuits. Those who come to
visit Porto come to discover this town,
not Vienna, or Prague the associa-
(02-07-2014)
Rossana Ribeiro
In the centre of Porto we lack houses, a
real estate market directed at families or
groups, larger households than the single
individual or the couple. There are plenty
of studio and one-bedroom apartments for
sale. But what about the rest? Typologies
suited to the needs of other groups. What
is more, let us not forget the issue of real
estate valuation (/m2)...
(02-07-2014)
Jorge Velhote
Nice place to stay! A place of departure
towards changing the way we can
generate modifications that will make
the news and become a political, social
and artistic participative model.
(03-07-2014)
G. Pinto
What matters the most is people,
not politics. It is necessary to get
the population involved in their own
problem-solving processes!
(04-07-2014)
Francisca Bartilotti
It is never too much to think about
the city
tions and the cafs are not replaceable
for franchises. The recessive auster-
ity cuts and the decrease of the avail-
able income for most people has led to
the closing of 20 shops a day, in this
region, in the past year and the ones
that open are either 'gourmet' (and
therefore not for the workers still
stuck with a minimum wage of 485
per month) or '1-shops' of products
done in places where work is even less
valued than here. There is now a sep-
aration between 'locals' and tourists,
a zoning through the prices of prod-
ucts and services - this is also gentri-
fication, visible in the difference be-
tween the area on the official maps
(04-07-2014)
Julia Rourire
Take heart for what you are doing, its
honourable and a lot of people should
learn from your example!
(04-07-2014)
Sara Nunes
I am glad I attended this conversation.
The initiative it departed from is
especially dear to my heart and so it
ended up generating a conversation
about immensely interesting and
relevant matters. I hope the remaining
talks are as pertinent as this one. I will
be showing up.
(04-07-2014)
Hugo Monteiro
Thanks for the late afternoon sharing. I
wish the project every possible success.
(04-07-2014)
Jos Soeiro
The talk and the sharing were a
pleasure. May the projects multiply.
May the city house more sites for
meeting and questioning, such as
this one. And, while we are at it, may
occupations flourish. My best wishes
for the house and its continuation. I
hope to come back.
distributed by the City Hall to visitors,
and the remaining city.If city and pol-
itics have the same root ( polis) why
not think, from local to global, the re-
sults of the politics chosen in the man-
agement of what is common? From the
objective of 'a more equal and fair so-
ciety' to the 'praise of wild neoliberal-
ism' it was a tiny gap of a few decades:
from the right to the place to the right
to profit, from globalization to the un-
dermining of labour rights and value,
from markets to shoppings, from the
islands to gated communities.From
the 70's until today, the problems in
Porto have changed, as did the model
of public response to them. If once we
(05-07-2014)
Jacques ...
A welcoming and super interesting visit. A
beautiful energy that demands to express
itself and develop. Bravo!
(05-07-2014)
Renata Nogueira
A very original idea a well-managed
space that conveys simplicity and the
everyday
(05-07-2014)
Ivo Ramos
I felt at home. A very pleasant space.
(05-07-2014)
Henrique P
Homeland, homeless.. Is it possible
to create this connection between
ourselves and others, that is, to give
to those who are without a home the
house that is currently vacant?
News from Portugal? More homeless
than homeland, or rather, Portugalless..
06-07-2014)
Enora & Herv, Beerheepens
Thank you very much for organizing
this event. As tourists and for our first
time in Porto and Portugal, we are glad
to have heard about this urban debate
and social time. Good Lunch!!!
had an overcrowded historic centre
and lacked housing -and the public au-
thorities chose to redistribute re-
sources through programs like SAAL,
PER or CRUARB- today Porto lacks
people and we have an unbelievable
number of unoccupied houses, stores
and (worst of all) factories and once-
productive-spaces. The economy
turned from production to services,
and now seems to be focusing only on
tourism, masking the emptiness
caused by the exodus of the people of
Porto and not even being used to gen-
erate decently paid, non precarious
jobs.The new construction in the sub-
urbs, more profitable due to its larger
Homeland, August 2014
(09-07-2014)
Miguel Martim dos Santos
A very interesting initiative. Our city
needs to be discussed. Talked. Thought.
And transformed.
(09-07-2014)
A. Manuel Miranda
For the originality and the potential of
this initiative, my congratulations and I
wish you all the best.
(09-07-2014)
Ana Paula Delgado
I salute the initiative, innovation and
most of all the youth of the participants,
a sign of reform and rejuvenation of the
downtown of Porto.
(09-07-2014)
Manuel Correia Fernandes
A great place that makes you think
Its a good thing, the city changes and so
do the people a big hug
(09-07-2014)
Pedro Baganha
Congratulations on the courage to take
a semi-abandoned place in the heart
of the city; even if temporary it is an
interesting wake-up call.
scale, flourished until 2008, support-
ed on credit. The state then gave away
its regulatory function towards pri-
vate construction builders and be-
came the facilitator of their demands.
Now, those companies try to repeat
the suburban pattern of large inter-
ventions, on a block scale, in the cen-
tre. Result? Pseudo-squares-with-a-
gate over the inevitable underground
car park, in the back of a five star ho-
tel, financed by public money and
with no one to buy the expensive
housing surrounding it. Ugly corrup-
tion made concrete - welcome to Car-
dosas. The new real-estate bubble is
the touristic one.
Homeland, August 2014
Society
It takes centuries to invent the primitive
The doric column project
PEDRO BANDEIRA
Architect, researcher and professor
at the Architectural School,
University of Minho
Last year I was invited by the
Madrid based curator Ariadna
Cantis to participate in the Per-
forming City event an associ-
ated project of the 2013 Lisbon
Architecture Triennial , sup-
ported by the Spanish Ministry
of Culture. Together with Dul-
cineia Santos we developed a
Pedro bandeira
to architectural themes, we
days is lacking in our public de-
Pedro bandeira
low budget performance called
The Future is the Beginning
that consisted on carrying a
doric column from the centre of
Lisbon to the hill of Nossa Sen-
hora do Monte. This perfor-
mance was presented as a trib-
ute to Greek culture, to their
heritage of democracy, in a mo-
ment where Greeces national
sovereignty is being questioned
by perverse economical inter-
ests. Not such a different story
from what was happening in
Portugal.
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 17
Reactivate
the Desterro
Hospital
The rehabilitation of the Con-
vent of Desterro, hospital in Lis-
bon until 2006, will end soon to
host tenants who can inhabit
and work temporarily in a cell
and cultivate gardens.
Source of Mainside, this reha-
bilitation partner, said that there
More specifically, and closer of the ephemeral and pre- has been a great demand for peo-
carious within a low cost ple interested in embracing the
also wanted to emphasize with Ephemeral culture and spectacle. project, with a focus on residents
this performance that the Low cost, paradoxically, pro- of the area which demonstrate a
Greeks have always given im- actions or motes wide access to services strong interest in collaborating in
portance to citizenship in the
construction of the polis, using precarious and goods but, as we know, is
also the expression of a savage
the regeneration and revitaliza-
tion of this city fraction.
the Agora as a symbolic space
for gathering, participation,
architectonic global capitalism that at the
same time corrupts social val-
The activities that will occupy
the space will seek heritage of
discussion and debating of ide-
as. Not by chance, the Greeks
structures are ues and benefits that took so
long to conquer. As Siza would
the old convent and the old hos-
pital and revive ideas as: liv-
invented the public architectur-
al competition, which nowa-
used to draw put it, comfort and quality in
architecture have a cost. Do we
ing, working temporarily in a
cell, grow gardens, have lunch in
attention really want to question that, a large cafeteria and make com-
cisions and finance. and downgrade our legitimate munity sessions of alternative
to political
In the sixties art perfor- expectations? medicines.
mance was seen as a provoca-
tive gesture, most of the time and social Unfortunately, nowadays
performance is not an alterna-
The company indicated that it
is expected a unit of temporary
related to
underground or counter-cul-
conflicts? tive to anything, but it seems to
be the only response for every-
accommodations like residen-
tial work. In the space, will be
ture movements intended on thing. With the Future is the Be- also create an experimental
questioning the institutionali- ginning performance, we were school and an art gallery.
zation of art as an expression of the time they are not paid for quite aware of all these contra- The Mayor of Lisbon stressed
power and bourgeois mentality. their actions. The betterment dictions. The doric column was that this is an excellent exam-
Architecture only took on per- of ones curriculum or promises proposed as symbol of ethical ple of how large spaces that are
formance as an alternative of publication are, most of the values that
we consider peren- empty today-and that in the new
practice later, but once it hap- time, the currency paid by the nial and is also a symbol of market conditions can hardly be
pened, it easily became widely organizations behind these aesthetic value which persist- sold following the initial project
accepted and, apologies for say- events, and for those institu- ed up to postmodernism , thus -need not to be closed in decay,
ing so, was mainly institution- tions creativity is related to revealing a material and imma- but can be reoccupied, reused
alized by architecture bien- do much with almost nothing. terial persistence needed to and reinvented. Antnio Costa
nales and triennials. Well Besides the goodwill of most of counter the cultural and social believes that this project will
framed by the context of spe- architect performers, this ex- precariousness in which we live help the all area to draw new
cialized events, architectural presses a problem in itself, today. people, new audiences and that
performance, in its pursuit of which becomes even more of an Maybe its time to reinvent will create jobs.
art performance, lost its ability issue with an aestheticization the primitive. Alessia Allegri
to provoke the emancipated
spectator (as Jacques Rancir
would say).
I would venture to state that
the success of architectural
performances, these days, is
mainly related with the lack of
architectural jobs and commis-
sions throughout Europe where
everything appears to be per-
fectly done (and note that we
are writing from Portugal!).
That is to say performance now-
adays is more a consequence of
the crisis than a conscious act
of critique. And even the illu-
sions of political or ideological
statements related to some per-
formances (like ours) are soon
submerged by the entropy of
cultural spectacle and superfi-
ciality, a result of the lack of
money and time.
It is precisely this lack of time
(that lvaro Sizas always com-
plains about) that pushed
performance to become the
stage for emerging architects,
without clients or means to de-
velop traditional practice. Per-
formance, most of the time with
low costs and few strings at-
tached, democratized architec-
tural production or, at least,
created the illusion of it, em-
bracing, nevertheless, architec-
tural thinking and cultural pro-
duction. After all everything
is supposed to be architecture.
Under this field of architec-
tural performance, and follow-
ing some ideologies from the
sixties, a new generation of ar-
chitects started to intervene on
issues concerning public space,
giving visibility to urban prob-
lems or proposing more social
interaction and participation.
Ephemeral actions or precari-
ous architectonic structures
are used to draw attention to
political and social conflicts,
with some naivety they aspire
to solve these problems. But
most of the time they are, itself,
part of the problem.
Young architects provided
with entrepreneurship and
proactivity, see in the perfor-
mance their opportunity to
show themselves, but most of
18 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Informal
Informal cronology / Ateliermob and Joo Baa
25 April 1974 14 May 1974
(During the first A statement by the JSN
fortnight after the day (the National Salvation
of the Revolution) Junta) legalizes the
In Lisbon, 2000 houses occupations that had taken
are occupied, for the most place, establishing some
part municipal housing, of conditions.
which many are still under
construction.
Demonstration
against the
occupations law,
Arrbida Area, 17
May 1975 Alexandre
Alves Costa collection,
April 25 Documentation
Centre
Housing policies in Portugal in the 20th century and the dream of the April 25 revolution
The right to have a house
ATELIERMOB
Once the monarchy was overthrown, in
1905, one of the first substantial measures
undertaken by the government of the re-
public towards the reorganization of soci-
ety addressed housing issues. Until 1919,
the working classes lived in dwellings rent-
ed under precarious contracts. Evictions
were easy and recurrent. Published five
weeks after the Republic was established,
the Tenancy Law was passed, making
evictions more difficult and regulating the
rise in rents which had been a thorough-
ly liberal market until then. The first re-
publican governments there were 45 of
them in 16 years especially those led by
Sidnio Pais, were extremely active in
planning an intervention in the field of
cost-controlled housing. But in 1922, the
government that took office wanted to
break with the policies of its predecessors
and proposed an austerity programme
that abandoned the plan for the construc-
tion of new workers neighbourhoods.
Four years later, the country would wit-
ness the military coup that led to Salazars
dictatorship.
Initially, Salazar recovered part of the
republican governments plan that saw
the completion, by the start of World War
II, of some previously planned neighbour-
hoods to which others were later added, in
an ongoing process that only came to a
halt because of the post-war financial
strain and later, with the start of the Colo-
nial War in the 60s. Even though a num-
ber of important experiments in the field
of housing were carried out in the 60s and
70s, namely in urban centres, the State
was unable to respond to the pressure of
massive migratory inflows from the coun-
tryside to the city. Surrounding the cities
of Lisbon and Porto, sprawling informal
shantytowns grew and housed families
and newcomers, often according to the re-
gion where they originally came from.
In Clandestinos em Portugal [Clan-
destine in Portugal], Carlos Macedo Rod-
rigues argues that it is in the housing sec-
tor that the Portuguese city sets itself
apart from most Western European cities,
since a significant percentage of homes
built from the 60s onwards has taken
place through what could be called the
SAAL - Architecture in times of hope
JOO BAA
The Portuguese revolution of April 25th,
1974 ended 48 years of dictatorship. Be-
tween this date and November 25th, 1975
several thousand people organized and
participated intensively in neighbour-
hood associations and cooperatives.
The SAAL was a project created by a
joint decree of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and the Ministry of Social
Equipment and Environment, pro-
posed by the Secretary of State for
Housing and Urbanism Nuno Portas,
and approved on July 31st, 1974, three
months after the revolution, during the
1st Provisional Government. This pro-
cess was the most visible project of
state intervention during the PREC
31 July 1974 3 May 1975
Joint decree by MAI (Ministry IV Government writes the
of Internal Administration) Housing Policy Programme.
and MESA (Ministry of
Social Infrastructure and
Environment) creates SAAL
(Local Mobile Support
Service)
No caption
Alexandre Alves Costa
collection, April 25
Documentation Centre
Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Art. 65 - Housing valter vinagre
informal housing sector. citizens, organized in residents associa- present representation at the Biennale. Ill fight so that my fortune
With the carnation revolution of April tions. Named SAAL (see essay by Joo Though the neighbourhood cannot be Is made by my own hands
25, 1974, the housing problem gained vis-
ibility. The demographic growth caused
by the colonial returnees, as well as sev-
eral large-scale occupations of buildings
and neighbourhoods, some of which still
under construction, increased pressure
on the State to an extent that did not go
unnoticed by the first democratic gov-
ernments. The first Constitution born
out of the revolution consecrates in Arti-
cle 65 the universal Right to Housing
(pictured here).
Three months to the day of the revolu-
tion, the then Secretary of State Nuno Por-
tas proposes to the government the launch
of a national housing construction pro-
gramme. This pioneering and innovative
proposal sought to bring together the
State, funding, architects, engineers and
(Ongoing Revolutionary Process), to try being practically extinct, to confer on how they wanted their homes, thus em- For the end of exploitation
to resolve the serious housing needs of Municipalities the control and defini- bodying the mutual learning process. Let us all march on
a large number of families.
The SAAL has linked the notion of
housing rights with the right to the city
and the right to place, defending the per-
manence of populations in the same
neighbourhoods and opposing forced re-
location to the suburbs, and distributing
the responsibility for the management
and control of the technical operations
between the technicians and the local
population. The architects who were part
of the Technical Brigades put their knowl-
edge at the service of the neediest popula-
tion, who had self-organized in neigh-
bourhood commissions, neighbourhood
associations or housing cooperatives.
Through a legal order issued by the
First Constitutional Government on
October 27th, 1976, the SAAL ended up
17 May 1975 9 July 1975
Demonstrations for the right Demonstration in Lisbon by
to housing and the repeal of the inhabitants of Setbal
the anti-occupation decree to advance the cause of
(198A/75) by dwellers of the 500$00 per room, as a
the more underprivileged maximum limit set for house
and illegally-started rents.
neighbourhoods in Lisbon
and Porto.
Auto-Construction
in SAAL Operation
at Relvinha
neighbourhood,
Coimbra, n.d.
Unknown author,
Collection
of the Semearrelvinhas
Co-Op for Economical
Building and Habitation
Baa), the programme was as short-lived
as it was revolutionary.
But political engagement was unable to
respond to the needs of a people to whom
freedom had given back the right to
dream of, and demand, a better life.
Alongside demonstrations ringing
with slogans like Houses yes, Shacks
no! or The working mans home cannot
come out of his salary, people would or-
ganize their homes and neighbourhoods
informally, in the hope that running wa-
ter, sanitation, urban planning and the
construction of roads would eventually
catch up.
In fact, this is the context that witnessed
part of the construction of Monte Xisto in
Matosinhos, which is the focus of the in-
tervention carried out in the area, in the
tion of ongoing operations, from which
the biggest obstacles to SAAL had pre-
viously emerged. At the time this order
was published, were active 169 opera-
tions throughout the country, involving
41,665 families of poor residents. 2,259
new houses were under construction
and there was an imminent startup of
over 5,741 (Bandeirinha: 2007).
Mutual learning is an emic concept
that I developed from my research on
the Relvinhas neighbourhood and that
is related to mutual learning among dif-
ferent cultures, different classes and
different acquirements.
The architects had to learn to work
with other scales and communicate dif-
ferently and the residents had to learn
to participate in assemblies, to explain
14 January 1976
A powerful bomb goes off in
the SAAL/North facilities.
No caption
Alexandre Alves
Costa collection,
April 25
Documentation
Centre
Ill have none of that fortune
That only makes the bosss fortune
Thats the talk of those bent
On carrying on exploitation
identified with a specific period, a sizeable
part, built post-April 25, was the result of
the fractional division of large portions of
farming land, so that workers could build
their homes on those plots.
If before April 25 a housing problem
already existed, the States action sought
to render it invisible or silent before soci-
ety. With the revolution, and for the im-
mediate years that followed, it would
have been very difficult to better plan the
impending and inevitable bursting of the
bubble. The feeling of freedom, the feel-
ing that anything would be possible re-
gardless of the economic hardship and,
above all, the absence of fear, lead most
individuals living in appalling conditions
to claim, demand and take it upon them-
selves to improve their living conditions.
But weve had enough of poverty,
Things will be different now
Let no man be without a home
While there are houses with
no-one inside
The mutual learning which was present
in other government projects carried
out in the same period, sought greater
democratization of knowledge, culture,
health care, such as the Student Civic
Service, the Campaign for Cultural Di-
namization and Civic Action of the
Armed Forces Movement and the Med-
ical Service in Periphery.
Considering that the archives of
SAAL are scattered and incomplete, I
believe that oral history could fill some
gaps. Through the study of the memo-
ries of those who participated in each
SAAL operation it is possible to per-
ceive this process and some of the dif-
ferent issues that were changing
throughout this short but extremely
dense project/process.
Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 19
Informal
27 October 1976
A joint decree from MAI a service of the FFH (Housing
(Ministry of Internal Development Fund). Three
Administration) and MHUC Government Commissioners
(Ministry of Housing, are nominated to coordinate
Urbanism and Construction) the activities of the Central
extinguishes SAAL (Local Administration in Lisbon,
Mobile Support Service) as Porto and the Algarve.
Demonstration in
front of the Porto
Town Hall, n.d.
Alexandre Alves
Costa collection, April
25 Documentation
Centre
Houses, yes!
Shacks, no!
Chorus:
Houses yes! Shacks no!
Houses belong to the people!
Down with exploitation!
I left the countryside for the city
A strange land is a curse to bear
Where we die from sunrise to sunset
For a meagre crust
As half the crop goes
Straight to the bosss pocket
I was sick of poverty
Of watching my children weep
I got up and left everything
To come work in the city
Without money or a roof
To the shacks I went to live
Chorus
They say those who are born poor
and without money for schoolin
Must live under a yoke
And must endure
What fortune throws atem
And to the crumbs they can grab
The slope of Monte Xisto, showing the site of intervention (center, left) valter vinagre
Designing from the
I am a labourer I am a stonemason
centre: up-and-down
I work in construction
Its me who builds the houses
For the bourgeois and for the boss
I give palaces to the fine folk
Whilst I live in a shack
The scum that exploits me
Live high on the hog
Architecture as a technical and social-political praxis
Villas in the countryside and the
seaside
For their mistresses and their cats
And all at my expense while citizens. Paradoxically, well-intended clude NLs floating school in Makoko
paulo moreira
I live in a slum. PAULO MOREIRA
photos VALTER VINAGRE
actions perpetuate urban precarious-
ness and even absolve authorities from
Village, Lagos (which uses local labour
and resources as an act of resistance); unbuilt-it-yourself
Chorus any responsibilities in providing better Julia Kings 'invisible' sanitation pro-
living conditions. jects in Savda Ghevra, Delhi (which
Current architectural practice defines What if architecture reconciled top- are the vehicle of civic awareness, Less than half of Monte Xistos have been started (but none of
itself between two apparently antago- down strategies with the political cor- eventually leading to the creation of houses are licensed or under which has so far gone any further).
nistic modes of reading the informal rectness that arises from the ground? neighbourhood associations with a le- co-ownership shares schemes, The idea of this proposed project
city. On one side, the economy-driven The profession is in a privileged posi- gal status); and the work of Teddy Cruz despite some of them being built is to transform the debris of some
paradigm of urban development, tion to pursue this intention, because around the history of San Diego and on a former municipal waste dump. annexes and house extensions
which fails to grasp the latent urbanity architects can speak the specialist lan- Tijuanas border (where the vicissi- The other half are illegal, or their overloading the slope into the raw
of the non-planned. On the opposing guage of decision-makers and, simul- tudes of those particular places con- licence proceedings are pending. materials for building gabion walls
side, the rather unstructured and in- taneously, they can engage with the stantly evolve into design projects that The sites legal status ranges from and a public place. The project
tuitive attempts of NGOs and socially- struggle of the disenfranchised. tie together top-down and bottom-up unsusceptible of urban conversion reconciles the tendency to resort to
All together and well organized engaged urban planners to cope with tactics). In Portugal, the Casa do Va- to indefinite areas. In regards to demolition with the peoples right
Well set out to conquer the logics of informality. Designing in informal por, designed, built and managed by a
the former, demolition seems to be to remain. It is a participatory, less
A growing number of critics consider neighbourhoods multifaceted team in a fisherman vil-
Well crush forever conventional top-down planning as 'fu- lage South from Lisbon, raised the unavoidable. Such was the case of expensive solution to this indefinite
Capitalist oppression tile'. At the same time, bottom-up prac- There cannot be any universal formula standards of architecture with a social a group of six houses razed to the area of Monte Xisto.
Freedom for the People tice is widely considered a positive, in- for designing in informal neighbour- purpose. Despite being a temporary ground by the city hall in late 2013, These demolitions were agreed
clusive approach. In-between these two hoods. There are no 'exemplary' meth- project, its legacy will certainly re- following years of negotiations. The with both residents and officials as
In a socialist homeland
extremes seemingly there is only a grey ods, no unique strategy that can be de- main for a long time. latter cases are indeterminately part of an exchange that, so far it
Chorus zone as if architects either work on the ployed wherever there are poor people, When addressing informal neigh- on hold, drowning in endless seems, leaves all sides satisfied:
dark side (for developers and politicians) lack of basic infrastructure and hazard- bourhoods, architects should position bureaucracy such as land title the residents can keep their main
or on the bright side (with 'the people'). ous houses. Above all, working within themselves in the middle, moving con- registries updates. houses, and the city hall solves
Unknown author Successful collaborative city-making any given urban context implies getting stantly up-and-down between the Such is the case of an area of a long-lasting problem with a
is a far more complex issue. As a matter to know the territory and the people in- higher spheres of power and the 'dirty' Monte Xisto, in Matosinhos, where relatively modest investment (whilst
Source: O Futuro Era Agora - O Movimento Popu- of fact, if reduced to a feeling of nostal- volved (both residents and officials). ground of reality. Ultimately, these some houses built on a slope are gaining a new public place). This
lar do 25 de Abril [The Future was Now Popular gia or pity, bottom-up approaches may Across the globe, some inspiring pro- complex, sometimes dyslexic process- in danger. The city hall is aware of compromise solution unlocks what
Movements of April 25], Coord. Francisco Martins become simply a patronising gesture of jects have been pointing in this direc- es are more likely to contribute to
Rodrigues, Edies Dinossauro, Lisbon, 1994.
the problem, and a couple of plans was otherwise a dead-end situation.
kindness from well-educated profes- tion. Examples of comparatively mod- transforming a love-hate relationship
sionals in favour of desperately poor est yet meaningful interventions in- into a credible praxis.
20 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Informal
Giving the floor
to local residents
From all our friends, we are one of the
few who have a house with a courtyard
ATELIERMOB &
paulo moreira
Jlios family moved to Monte Xisto be-
fore the revolution of April 25, 1974.
Within their means, and relying on a
support network that allowed them to
pay for building materials when they
could and to get assistance with the con-
struction when they needed, they went
on to build, one house at a time, one for
each of the siblings, the entire street
where they all now live. At the same
time, they helped build other neigh-
bouring houses in total, Jlio believes
he helped build around fifteen houses.
Paying the fine for illegal construction
was an integral, and accepted, part of
the process.
Jlio works for the Municipality of
Matosinhos as a driver, but he moon-
lights in Monte Xisto doing construction
work, together with his brothers. The
enforcement of certain legal require-
ments towards the neighbourhoods le-
galization guarantees Jlio some extra
income. At present, the most common
work they undertake is the connecting
of homes to the public sewage system,
since according to the Municipal Ser-
vices, and enforced by a fine, it is man-
datory for houses still fitted with inde-
pendent septic tanks to be connected to
the mains sewage system.
Raquel and Fernando also received a
letter from the water company order-
ing them to carry out sanitation works.
At the suggestion of a neighbour one
of Fernandos clients Jlio and his didnt stop coming to him.
brother were called in.
The couple bought their house in
Monte Xisto in 2010. Right after they got
married, they lived with Fernandos par-
ents and the following year, they started
looking for a house to buy. They lived
close to the airport for 7 years. At the
time, they both worked in a hairdresser
salon in Matosinhos, and they started
looking for a house with extra space for
their pets, something which they tell us
Informal Portugal /ateliermob
ateliermob
Portugal novo, lisbon
Built as part of the SAAL programme, the
Portugal Novo Neighbourhood (Manuel
Vicente, 1977) resulted in the construction
of 384 dwellings.
The buildings came under the authority of a
government institute (IHRU) after the co-op
became insolvent. The government claims
a debt that local inhabitants will never be
able to pay to justify its inaction towards the
buildings upkeep and maintenance.
Dwellings are gradually occupied by a
gipsy community that established itself
there, with only a small number of the
original members of the cooperative
remaining. Buildings are rundown, and the
interior spaces have been informally
adapted giving rise to serious structural
challenges, there is no garbage collection
in this neighbourhood and public space is
not cared for.
is very dear to their hearts. The search
wasnt easy, as prices were high.
They heard of the house in Monte Xis-
to. They knew the owner and when they
came to see the house their expectations
were very low, because of the asking
price and the neighbourhoods bad rep-
utation. The houses legalization, for
which they had to wait nine months, was
not a demand of theirs but of the bank
that they had turned to for a mortgage.
Although they have no complaints of
cracks or other pathologies arising
from possible structural or construc-
tion weaknesses which Jlio in his
expertise admits are common in the
area since moving to their home they
have carried out several improvement
works to better the thermal perfor-
mance of the house, as well as improve
its overall aesthetics. The works from
carpentry to painting to metal works
were all done by professionals who, like
Jlio, are also from the neighbourhood.
So that Fernando can welcome a few
extra customers in the evenings and on
his days off, they set up a space, with its
own independent entrance, as an infor-
mal hair salon. They tell us that the ex-
tra income this generates allows them
to carry out the improvement works to
the house, which otherwise with their
salaries alone would not be possible.
Fernando proudly describes these cus-
tomers, he receives at his home, as:
Lawyers, Doctors, Judges, Employees
of the Municipality, all of them peo-
ple with University Degrees who even
in the midst of all the rubble, when
the construction works were underway,
Raquel and Fernando claim to be the
only ones, in the neighbourhood, to have
bought a house without having a former
family connection to it, but they would
like to see it happen more often. The only
problem for those wanting to invest in the
area is, they explain, that most houses
are illegal. But they are unanimous in
praising the neighbourhood and the
house: Of all our friends, we are one of
the few to have a house with a courtyard.
Bela, neighbourhood dweller
bairro do talude militar, loures
For the most part home to citizens of
Cape-Verdean origin, this urban area in
the periphery of Lisbon is considered
unlikely to be reconverted. After years of
tacitly authorized illegal occupation, the
revision of the Urban Design Plan led to
expectations of building among the lands
owners. Meanwhile, residents that are
being rehoused in council estates regret
the breakup of existing neighbourhood
and community dynamics. Those who
stay behind fear that speculative greed
will prevail over their right to housing.
Recently, significant political change
in local government has raised fresh
expectations that the neighbourhood
dynamics will be taken into consideration
in the sites urban development.
RESIDENTS BIOGRAPHY
Jlio Martinho
(Montalegre, 1954)
Jlio has lived in Monte Xisto since
1973. Before then, he lived with
his parents and his five siblings in
Matosinhos, to where they relocated
in the search for work, which was
non-existing in their native Pvoa de
Lanhoso. They started off by working
in farming and later in the factories.
Gradually, they began buying plots
of land along one of the roads of
Monte Xisto, to build the houses they
currently live in. Jlio lives with his
wife and son in the house he built.
He is a driver for the Municipality of
Matosinhos and in Monte Xisto he
does construction work on weekends,
days off and holidays. (TOp)
google earth
Quinta da parvoce, setbal
The property of the same government
institute that oversees the Portugal
Novo neighbourhood (IHRU), it is located
near Estrada da Graa and has been
home to about 200 people, for nearly
20 years. The neighbourhood has been
in the public eye due to an old dispute
with the electricity distribution company
(EDP), as the illegal connections that
power local homes are frequently cut and
re-established - a situation which, with
the privatization of the main electricity
distribution company, spread to several
neighbourhoods in the country. Without
running water and precarious electricity
connections (the local inhabitants cannot
sign proper contracts as their houses are
illegal) the escalating unemployment
rate has worsened the overall hardship.
valter vinagre
Raquel Pinto (Porto, 1981) and
Fernando Pinto (Matosinhos, 1973)
Raquel and Fernando bought their
house in Monte Xisto in 2010 and
have been living there ever since
with their two children. Right after
they got married, they lived with
Fernandos parents in Santa Cruz do
Bispo, and after a year, they moved to
Freixieiro, close to the airport, where
they lived for 7 years.
Contrary to most of their neighbours,
they did not have any emotional or
family ties to Monte Xisto, they were
just in need of a house with extra
space for their pets Raquel works in a
nail and beauty salon in Matosinhos-
Sul, and Fernando is a barber and
works in Foz, Porto.(BOTTOM)
Guilherme Pinto and the urban servic-
valter vinagre
Google Earth
bairro da Jamaica, seixal
Some decades ago, in Fogueteiro, the
insolvency of a construction company
halted a buildings construction works,
leaving it with nothing but the structure
and a court case. In the meantime,
the structure was gradually occupied
by homeless families and closed off
with the bricks that have become the
neighbourhoods trademark. The water
supply is provided by the municipality and
electricity comes from illegal connections
made over 20 years ago. Open sewage
runs through the neighbourhood.
In 2009, a Detailed Zoning Plan was
approved that included the demolition
of the neighbourhood and subsequent
rehousing by 2013, which has not
happened.
urgent intervention
Homeland, August 2014
Matosinhos city hall
Joo Quinto
Head of the Urban Planning Division
Illegal urban
areas in
Matosinhos
- Processing
C
ities have an implicit idea of
order, and the informal settle-
ments that grow beyond the
rules of the public authorities
are a chaotic territorial phe-
nomenon. It reflects a popula-
tion with basic needs, search-
ing for resources, and leads to
social stigmatization.
Urban wise, migration processes are
characterized by breaking with the es-
tablished city: new urban areas grow
fast, spreading through the territory,
in a contrasting formal urban outcome.
From informal to formal
Ever since its beginning, 30 years ago,
Matosinhos Municipality has been ded-
icated to the rehabilitation of its infor-
mal settlements. In 1989/90 we started
practices harshly criticized by ministe-
rial authorities, but later adopted into
law, like licensing tolerance, an infor-
mal administration process; providing
infrastructure to the greater part of the
informal areas and asking for a contri-
bution later. Around 2001, an adminis-
trative court order limited the munici-
pals financial support to the popula-
tions, the quest for legalization fell to
almost no activity. For the revision and
update of this Law in 2003, Matosinhos
Urban Services actively intervened in
parliamentary working groups, and
thus were able to financially support
the informal communities once again.
From 2005 and onwards, Municipal
services have proactively met people in
illegal urban areas, explaining the
reconversion law. The process is sup-
ported in complicity between Mayor
es, in a kind of a good cop / bad cop
strategy, with the urban services nego-
tiating all of the process, and culminat-
ing in a public licensing ceremony con-
ducted by the Mayor.
The key is inclusion. The law that
rules the conversion processes is com-
plex, and to put it into practice was a
communal task: both citizens with ex-
perience, lawyers, social workers, ar-
chitects and the municipal services
themselves shared experiences and
built a trusted knowledge network that
overcame the major obstacles.
The thing to acknowledge, is that this
population have by law a form of capac-
itation that empowers them: where the
land belongs to multiple persons, in a
common ownership regime, an execu-
tive committee is established to realize
the councils orientations; a fiscal com-
mittee is set up to watch over the for-
mers activities; and the Councils min-
utes of the decisions taken by this
closed community is an executive title,
meaning a court will summarily exe-
cute the peoples collective decision in
a very short time, forcing the minorities
to accept the majorities decisions. This
constitutes a bottom up decision pro-
cess that allows them to reconvert and
legalize their situation with institution-
al backing; the law is an inclusive one,
and Matosinhos is on the edge of that
spirit, by having legalized 90% of its il-
legal urban areas.
Formal outcome
The very same people that brought cha-
os to a territory, creating informal ur-
ban places, finally get the stability that
only order allows. After all, they just
want a place to live their lives, and pass
this on to their descendants. The infor-
mal gives way to the formal, and the
process shows us human condition
through urban change to often a miss-
ing dimension in todays urbanism and
architectural disciplines, questioning
its roles in contemporaneity.
Homeland, August 2014
Economy
Espaos Liminares Urban Intervention, Bairro Alto, 2010
Planning the
informal city today?
Informality is a key issue in socioeconomic and urban structuring these days
PEDRO COSTA
Economist, researcher at
DINAMIA'CET-IUL and professor at
ISCTE-IUL
ic organization become increas-
Sorry! The lifestyle you or-
dered is currently out of stock
Banksy
Informality was essential in the
development and structuring of
many urban areas, despite the
extension of planning practices
and of modernist approaches to
cities development. In effect,
throughout the world, informal-
ity coexisted with urban expan-
sion and it was an essential piece
in urban growth mechanisms. In
contemporary post-modernist
cities it still plays a key role in
mechanisms of economic and so-
cial vitality and brings new chal-
lenges to the development of cit-
ies. What sense does it make to-
day to plan the informality of cit-
ies? What should we do with the
informal settlements that are
part of our contemporary cities?
Should we incorporate them in a
citys mainstream narrative, or
should we enhance their particu-
larities? And, how can we deal
with the informal dynamics that
are essential to structure eco-
nomic and social (re-)vitalization
of many areas? Should we for-
malize and institutionalize
them? Or on the contrary should
we informalize the planning of
urban spaces? Not having here
the purpose of exhausting this
extensive discussion, we suggest
4 perspectives that allow us to
deepen the debate of informality
in the contemporary city, in the
logic of urban planning.
Informal cities, informal
economies, informal
societies
In a world marked by globaliza-
tion processes and deep socioec-
onomic restructuring, the value
of informality seems to be cen-
tral and increasingly important
Pedro Costa
in the structuring of urban pro-
cesses, as these reflect the own
organization of life, society and
economies. In effect, informal as-
pects of daily life and of econom-
least, possible utopias) of each
ingly important, and can be ex-
plored even as competitive ad-
vantages within contemporary
global mechanisms of produc-
tion and consumption. After mo-
dernitys full-scale production
and mass consumption, with
flexible specialization and post-
fordist approaches to production
and consumption processes, and
with project oriented work or-
ganization, the arena for the in-
formal expands considerably. We
are not talking anymore of infor-
mal cities just as informal settle-
ments or informal living condi-
tions, but we have to consider the
role of informal economy, infor-
mal social relations or informal
lifestyles in the shaping of cities.
Not just anymore in 3rd world
primatial cities but more and
more in consolidated devel-
oped urban areas, facing the
challenges of economic recon-
version, the informal city affirms
itself in a society and an economy
which increasingly demand
space for informal mechanisms
and dynamics in their function-
ing. So more integrated ap-
proaches to city, understanding
trans-disciplinarily the urban
realm are required in planning.
nisms of conviviality and socia-
Informal city and
planning
The unplanned and many times
more organic city is one of the
more visible facets of informality
in urban areas. Are we talking
about slums, suburban areas of
illegal genesis (Portuguese AU-
GIS), or long term in situ urban-
ization processes, among other
situations, these are urban settle-
ments marked by informality,
which bring complex challenges
to planning practices. This or-
ganic city may be unplanned at its
origins, but it works and it has its
complex social and economic dy-
namics. And in a certain extent
this is a utopian city, which ex-
presses the multiplicity and di-
versity of individual utopias (or at
the flexibility of norms and
family who brought their dreams
to life in those houses. And this
requires an essential preoccupa-
tion when dealing with these ar-
eas and planning their formali-
zation: we are intervening for
people, and then we have to inter-
vene with the people. Effective
participation and real involve-
ment of population in these pro-
cesses is thus fundamental. The
right to the city makes the city of
the possible.
Informal city and
creativity
Informality in urban life is also
essential for its role in creative
dynamics and vitalization pro-
cesses. Urban creativity was al-
ways based on transgression and
exploration of the alternative, as
well as on liminality processes.
Most of these processes develop
on the edge of formality and on
the challenging of conventions
and institutionalized solutions.
This is also translated on city-
scapes, with the appropriation of
public space for political and so-
cial intervention, for artistic in-
terventions, or for gatekeeping
processes and for the mecha-
bility, which are essential to crea-
tive dynamics. Graffiti, street art
or other urban interventions
have brought us many examples
of these in recent years. These
processes naturally bring impor-
tant conflicts of uses between
city users, both in material and
symbolic arenas. These conflicts
of interest, expressed in public
and private spaces, are often as-
sociated to strong gentrification
processes. Non-formal, non-san-
itized spaces are particularly at-
tractive to the development of
creative dynamics. Though
many times rapidly affected by
regulatory frameworks or an ac-
symbolic mainstreaming and
gentrification, they play a central
role on urban restructuring and
promotion of vitality. Interesting
planning initiatives, enhancing
manent management of flexibili-
regulation for those purposes, or
assuming temporary interme-
diate uses, have been explored.
Regardless of the problems that
this can bring in terms of equity
(requiring the permanent man-
agement of real estate value cre-
ation, gentrification and urban
conflict) we cannot plan city to-
day without thinking on manag-
ing flexibility and non-institu-
tionalization.
Possible Personal Utopia, Sarilhos Grandes, 2014 Pedro Costa
Informality and the
South
Leading with informality brings
some specificities and particular
difficulties when we are dealing
with Southern realities (South-
ern Europe, as well as the Global
South), where cultural and insti-
tutional particularities under-
mine much more easily the infor-
mality in planning processes. In
cultures where institutional struc-
tures allow dubious relations be-
tween informality and power, and
where a link in the chain of admin-
istration has conditions to exer-
cise its influence and power, and
to gain advantages of it, informal-
ity in planning is particularly dif-
ficult to manage. Solutions like
temporary uses, for instance, be-
came difficult to implement (eas-
ily becoming permanent, without
an efficient judicial system, stable
from the public space and own-
curate civic consciousness). So, in
order to manage the informality
that can be the key for value crea-
tion, competitiveness and vitality
in contemporary cities, we need
governance solutions which rely
on responsible citizens and pro-
mote effective accountability.
And now? how to plan
informality?
Summing up, new challenges to
urban planning arise: dealing
with informality in cities requires
more integrated approaches to
the urban realm, citizens involve-
ment and participation, the per-
tion of visual garbage but asks
ty and of the different rights to the
city; as well as accurate and ac-
countable governance processes.
We need to think and under-
stand the informal dynamics
found in each urban area, as well
as its relation with the city, be-
fore promoting interventions
which most times are fated to de-
stroy those same dynamics, that
are vital to the economic and so-
cial vitality of those spaces.
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 21
365 ilegal
is now
legal
The former mayor of Oporto,
who was in power for the past 12
years, has conducted, since
2009, what he has called an An-
ti-Graffiti Brigade in order to
discourage its illicit practice,
keep the city clean and fight the
feeling of insecurity in the city.
Most writers and graffiters re-
acted against this measure say-
ing that, although they under-
stand urban art as ephemeral
there are other ways of dealing
with the subject. They argued
that a selection of graffitis to-be-
removed should be made. And
suggested the creation of author-
ised places to paint, like it already
happens in Lisbon with Galeria
de Arte Urbana - GAU, support-
ed by Lisbons City Council.
Instead, in 2012, the Opos
City Council decided to forbid
and fine graffiters, people who
post posters in buildings visible
ers who do not clean their walls
from the so-called plague.
In May 2013 this Brigade
erased a graffiti from the inter-
national recognised writer Ha-
zul Luzah.
His paintings are already con-
sidered part of Opos identity.
This attitude aroused contro-
versy and brought back the dis-
cussion surrounding Anti-
Graffiti Brigade, with a budget
of 150.000 euros,ready to in-
creased.
The author of the graffiti now
gone advocates he paints only in
buildings in decay and abandoned.
He agrees with the elimina-
for the opportunity to those who
want to embellish and colour the
city. It makes no sense to erase
paintings done in abandoned
places unless it is to recover the
building., said Hazul.
After this episode another one
took place in Bairro da Boua,
a neighbourhood by the Pritzker
Winner lvaro Siza Vieira. The
project includes a huge wall in
exposed concrete that has one
side facing the metro station.
This side was covered with graf-
fitis until the day a military
group was deployed to paint it
grey - concrete grey as it was
ironically nicknamed - instead
of being washed with a water
pressure machine.
By the end of the former may-
ors mandate he created a 40 eu-
ros fine to license graffiti and
tries to redeem himself by reach-
ing an agreement with some
writers giving 124m2 of wall to
be painted with historical images
of the city, using the technique of
graffiti. It was supposed to be
part of a project that wants to
preserve the historical and col-
lective memory of the city.
This was the moment when
365 illegal became legal inPorto.
Joana Coutinho
Former Mayor's Anti-Graffiti
Brigade hazul
22 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Collective
Crisis Quotes
Hope of a better future a belief
that progress is possible is fading. The
project that binds Europeans together
the European Union has never
been more unpopular; Britons may
even vote to leave.The EUs crowning
achievement, the euro, is increasingly
perceived as a sadomasochistic
straitjacket. Understandable anger
at the flagrant injustice of bailouts
for rich bankers and budget cuts for
poor schoolchildren overlaps with a
despicable scapegoating of outsiders,
in particular immigrants. Many people
no longer trust mainstream politicians,
EU technocrats and elites in general.
Worst of all, many are losing faith in
democracy itself.
The eurozone crisis has tipped
many into disillusionment,
despair and extremism - we need a
European Spring - the independent,
27 apr 2014
People are just as important to
me as goods and capital. So if they can
move freely, so must people be able to!
#wahlarena #withJuncker
Jean-Claude Juncker tweet,
20 may 2014
The primary cause of the crisis
was the reckless lending of German and
French banks (both directly and through
local banks) to Spanish and Irish
homeowners, Portuguese consumers
and the Greek government. But by
insisting that Greek, Irish, Portuguese
and Spanish taxpayers pay in full for
those banks mistakes, Chancellor
Angela Merkels government and
its handmaidens in Brussels have
systematically privileged the interests
of German and French banks over those
of euro zone citizens.
Euro-Zone Fiscal Colonialism - New
york times, 21 apr 2014
The spectre of a renewed
Eurozone crisis reared its head
yesterday, hitting shares and bond
markets, as fears deepened over the
future of Portugals biggest listed
bank, Espirito Santo. Portugal is barely
out of its bailout programme, and
investors had hoped the finance sectors
problems were over but new woes
have emerged, routing other banking
stocks. The event has hit European
financials like a torpedo and has revived
investors darkest nightmares, said Saxo
Banks Peter Garnry.
Portugal banking crisis rocks
markets as Espirito Santo share price
plummets, CITY A.M. 11 jul 2014
2013 was the worst year ever
for real estate funds. Surprisingly, the
average yield was negative, and there
are no signs of improvement. In 5 years,
the total value of unoccupied properties
[in Portuguese funds] increased from
463 million euros to 886 million euros,
which is just about a quarter of its net
asset value.
Real estate funds: worst year ever -
proteste investe, 25 feb 2014
Crises stemming from an
overaccumulation in property-led growth
tend to be more long-lasting than the
short sharp crises that occasionally
rock stock markets and banking
directly; often resulting in an oversupply
of commodities such as empty or
unfinished architectural units. We should
look closely at the landscapes produced
by property-led growth strategies as
sites of education and alterity.
Beyond the ghost town -
opendemocracy.net, 9 apr 2013
Navigating the crossroads of the built environment and global capital
Change from the within
MIGUEL EUFRSIA
Looking back at the past century,
probably one of the most problematic
and less theorized dimensions of
architecture is the ever-increasing en-
tanglement between the development
of urban substance and the processes
of the economic system. As David Har-
vey explains, this occurs for a well-
known reason: the expansion and in-
terconnectivity of urbanization is pre-
cisely what allows the control and or-
ganization of labour and revenues. But
Today's architecture
is directed
towards an idea of
12:08
democratic society
that no longer exists.
25/06/14
Consequently, the
real problem is not
Capitalism, but
1
the acceptance of
planta_piso_3 copy.pdf
the contemporary
Democratic illusion
all this is not exactly breaking news.
In the late sixties, in the issues of Con-
tropiano, Massimo Cacciari, Manfre-
do Tafuri and their colleagues at the
Venice School frequently pointed out
that the whole course of Modern
Architecture could not be understood
12:11
independently from the processes of
Capital. Following the lead of post-
modern thinkers such as Walter Ben-
jamin, Edmund Husserl and the work
25/06/14
of neo-Marxist social theorists from
the Frankfurt School, Tafuris wide
spectrum analyses transgressed disci-
plinary specializations and combined
1
politics, aesthetics, political economy
and architecture into one analytical
planta_piso_1 copy.pdf
endeavour, entitled Project of Crisis.
For Tafuri, Crisis is criticisms point of
departure and, most importantly, it
BARE ARCHITECTURE
A strategy that focuses on means rather than ends and favours an openness toward materials and processes
The bond between architecture and money has proved to be
as much productive as volatile. How can we frame the balance
of the productive relations between the built environment and
global capital in a democratic arena undermined by the effects
of systemic crisis? Illustration: Vasco Mouro
constitutes the immanent structure of temporary architecture to go forward.
History, allowing it to bring into ques- But if Tafuris neo-Marxist critique
tion the legitimacy of the capitalist di- acknowledged the need to keep open
vision of labour. Today, such an inci- dialogues, working towards the disso-
sive project retains its pertinence, es- lution of borders, regarding the preva-
pecially considering the contempo- lent forces of urban production, and de-
rary socio-economic demise, and au- manded a constant demystification of
thors such as Pier Vittorio Aureli have ideas in order to move away from uto-
revisited Tafuris work while looking pian perspectives, on the other hand,
for critical insights on the way for con- todays left-wing critical rhetoric insists
Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 23
Collective
on the necessary withdrawal of archi-
tecture from capitalist practices, into a
detached and autonomous domain,
neutralizing the possibility of negotia-
tion. But even an architectural project
that tries to counter the proliferation
of profit-based developments ends up
becoming part of the neo-liberal sys-
tem they wish to repeal, when every-
thing is taken into consideration. More-
over, there is no overstating the impor-
tance of private and public capital in
the building of crucial infrastructures
that steer society forward. Capitalism
is the only game in town and progress,
now more than ever, is anchored in fi-
nancial institutions and complex cred-
it mechanisms, so surely if architecture
is to play an operative role in main-
stream urban transformations, it must
sustain some level of arrangement with
the market-driven forces, even if it
wants to act against them: Change is
only possible from the within. On the
17:32
other hand, it is very difficult to see how
contemporary democratic societies
such as the Portuguese can function
23/06/14
when the government is more depend-
ent on the pronouncements of the IMF
than of the will of its own people. But it
is precisely in this irrational but inexo-
rable paradox that lies the reason why
1
architecture is failing to serve the col-
The first offspring of the Summoning the Collective initiative gathers consensus
lective: Todays architecture is directed
planta_piso_2 copy.pdf
towards an idea of democratic society
Self-enabling architecture
that no longer exists. Consequently, the
real problem is not Capitalism, but the
acceptance of the contemporary Dem-
ocratic illusion, and this is what should
be at the core of todays architectural
debate.
This is the propositional and provi-
sional framework of Summoning the ished buildings abandoned in the after- estate fund) of the economic viability of cated to commercial spaces and social temporary urban problems, the Sum-
Collective initiative. And although it is math of the burst of the real estate mar- the architectural proposal. The city organizations, on top of which are the moning the Collective initiative aims to
addressing a precise and specific urban MIGUEL EUFRSIA ket bubble. To say today that in the do- council are also on board, happy to bring housing units. They are assembled be a portal to a larger discussion concern-
problem: the unfinished buildings main of Architecture things will not be closure to an enduring urban problem. around a central courtyard/garden, a ing the relation between the contempo-
17:41
owned by real-estate funds that popu- the same as before is an understatement: It can be dubbed self-enabling architec- semi-public space that catalyzes social rary role of the architect and the chang-
23/06/14 11:58
late urban areas, it is actually propos- In the last decade, and according to INE, changes brought on by Crisis to the urban ture: The emphasis of the project is on interaction and provides direct access to ing material organization of society. Nev-
ing to disturb the role of the architect, Portugal has suffered a 68% decrease in domain are of such a magnitude that we rooting the design itself on the constitut- the housing units. The adaptation of a ertheless, if we take into consideration
to transgress the path of disciplinary the number of house building permits, a can speak of a change of paradigm. This ing of the pre-conditions that enable the structure which was originally built for that 22% of the 6,300,000,000 real-
expertise, to expand the possibilities of 75% drop in house building (24% drop in is why the on-going Summoning the Col- whole enterprise. Therefore, architec- office and commercial purposes, is a bal- estate assets owned by the six major Por-
copy 2.pdf 1 1 25/06/14
architectural action, advocating for an 2013 alone) and a 55% decline in house lective initiative (a collaboration be- ture emerges as the specific and con- anced trade-off between minimizing de- tuguese banks are unfinished and unoc-
explicitly pragmatic and ruthless use of sales volume. These figures speak for the tween ADOC architects and Miguel Eu- trolled process of mutation, one that molition, to ensure adequate ventilation cupied buildings (a figure that, according
its power. Ultimately, this initiative predicaments regarding the construc- frasia) can be one example to follow. translates into matter and spatial uses, and sun exposure of the housing units, to Dirio Econmico and Jornal de Neg-
aims to be a contribution for the clari- tion, real estate and architectural profes- At the moment, it is a sealed and empty the debated concerns from the financial, and the addition of volume, in order to cios, has doubled from 2009 to 2013 and
fication of the vague crossroads be- sions. Nevertheless, Portugal today has massive concrete ruin, useless and with marketing, legal and social arenas. meet the expected investment return, for which the tendency is to keep rising),
tween the processes of irreversible glo- 1.8 million more houses than families, no future. But all this is about to change. The architectural project is composed thereby making the built mass more per- there is a challenging undertaking wait-
planta_piso_0 copy.pdf
balization and unstable spatial and ma- which corresponds to 45% excess in ADOC architects have persuaded the of three layers: the underground parking, meable, while maintaining an adequate ing to happen in Portuguese urbanity,
terial organizations in the era of ab- dwellings, and these figures do not take owner and developer (a joint-venture be- the ground floor pedestal (that occupies low rise scale. one that is pregnant with potential both
stract financial instruments. into consideration the number of unfin- tween Obriverca construction and a real- almost the full extent of the block) dedi- Despite targeting a small quota of con- in creative as well as in financial terms.
planta_piso_0
24 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Collective
The dwelling unit as a point of entry toward the project of the city
Unbox yourself into
ADOC
The Moscavide mixed-use project opens
up a window of opportunity for experi-
menting with new domestic space or-
ganizations and lays the path for the
search for contemporary alternatives to
the monotonous housing types, propa-
gated en mass by the Industry.
It proposes to explore the zero de-
gree condition of housing by advanc-
ing a proposal for user-determined
spatial and material appropriation:
the domestication of cubic meters of
space. This is the starting point of the
creation of multiple micro-universes
This is the
starting point
of the creation
of multiple
micro-universes
- containers of
extended ways
of inhabiting, in
which the inherent
reductionism of its
design expresses
the differentiation
of use possibilities
- containers of extended ways of in-
habiting, in which the inherent reduc-
tionism of the design expresses the
differentiation of use possibilities.
Given the inherent indeterminacy of
the assembly of dwellings, the coexist-
ence of a wide array of individual
DESIGN YOURSELF INTO YOUR HOME
[Detailing] Re-adjusting the architectural debate towards concrete decisions rather than abstract ideology
choices can be both as exciting as un-
predictable, but its merits are to be
evaluated in an extended timeframe
and not at the moment of the build-
ings completion.
The subsequent challenge was to
find an operable tectonic solution to
the concept. Therefore, ADOC, in
partnership with SILOGIA, a Lisbon
based wall panel manufacturer, are
developing a prefabricated system
that adapts the modular partition sys-
tem generally used for offices to do-
mestic requirements, thus bringing
into the realm of housing a funda-
mental component of todays work-
place architecture.
This system is characterized by its
flexibility and adaptability to any pre-
existing construction. It is prefabri-
cated, lightweight, easy to install, can
carry water, electrical or electronic
infrastructures, and it is re-position-
able and re-usable. The components
of the panel itself can vary to serve
different acoustic, thermal, water-
proofing, or aesthetic needs, in order
to adjust to any required domestic
function. It produces reduced waste
and can be assembled by the final
user in a reduced timeframe. There-
fore, the partition system provides a
pragmatic answer to the constant
change of modern life. The living
space can become the unmediated re-
flection of the real necessities and de-
sires of the dweller.
Ultimately, the project revisits the
Modern dream of universal space and
domestic apparatus while reconciling
it with architectures core role as a
builder of participative cities. The
concrete void of the domestic space is
the milieu of architectural specula-
tion where the Collective is addressed
in its multiplicity, and the design is al-
lowed to decouple itself from the
shackles of the pervasive homogeni-
zation of housing models, only to fi-
nally return to a fundamental re-
thinking of the conditions of produc-
tion of contemporary housing.
Homeland, August 2014
Interview : Miguel Judas
On architecture
and regulation
PEDRO CAMPOS COSTA
& MIGUEL EUFRSIA
1. The panorama of the Portuguese
building regulations is profoundly
complex and anachronistic, typified
by an endless overlapping of laws and
regulations. Probably the most para-
digmatic case is the RGEU, General
Regulation for Urban Construction,
published in 1951 as an agent of re-
form and which is still in effect today.
What can we make of this situation?
The RGEU was developed by the dictato-
rial regime after WW2, in a context of
enormous insufficiencies in the housing
domain. It is a truly remarkable docu-
ment because it is a commitment be-
tween the assembling of comprehensive
construction rules for a precarious build-
er class and the setting of safety and san-
itary standards. This kind of pragmatic
compromise in times of urgency is typi-
cally Portuguese. It is a progressive docu-
ment because it sets parameters both for
urban planning and for minimum dwell-
ing areas that resonate with the Modern
concepts of efficiency, hygienism and ex-
istenzminimum. On the other hand, it is
very reactionary because, for instance, it
includes a chapter dedicated to 'building
aesthetics', a control mechanism of the
avant-garde. Nowadays, the RGEU is an
almost totally useless piece of regulation,
but its conception as a matrix, open to
subsequent superimposition of specialist
regulations, guaranteed its endurance.
2. Despite the increasing economic
and financial deregulation and de-
creasing government investment in
social issues, there is a pervasive
conformist tendency in the recent
Portuguese building laws that, under
the pretext of regulating new tech-
nologies, hinders innovation at sev-
eral levels. What is the reason for
this paradox?
The Law has an innate predisposition
towards being conservative. While real-
ity is plural, dynamic and tends to
evolve, regulations crystallize a certain
reading of reality. Regarding the Portu-
guese case I would underline two mo-
DOMESTIC CELL AUTOMATON: An interchangeable and evolutional basis for the tives for the magnification of this ten-
reprogramming of home's identity that celebrates individual choice dency: the legislator's relentless view of
the citizen as a potential offender and
the widespread awareness that the law
courts do not function. The Portuguese
legislation tends to maximize the prede-
termination of events as if the future
could be immune to conflict and arbitra-
tion... Moreover, the legislative initiative
has demonstrated an enormous inabil-
ity (or laziness) to adjust to the country's
functioning structures and mecha-
nisms. Therefore, we are left with the
consequent outcome: an exquisit corpse
(cadavre exquis).
3. How can we move forward in this
legislative jumble? Given the poor re-
sults of building regulations and the
drastic decline in the building activity
(a drop of 75% in the last decade),
should architects battle for a de-bu-
reaucratization, proposing the easing
of some specific norms or even the ab-
olition of some decrees?
In order to de-bureaucratize, every-
thing should become clearer and sim-
pler. I do not have the silver bullet, but I
see no other way other than to shift the
emphasis from administrative control
to personal or collective responsibility:
to concede more responsibility to the au-
thors of a project.
The irony of the discussion regarding
the Portuguese building law is that the
unintelligibility and splintering of regu-
lations and the impossibility to fulfil all
the conditions they require has had an
unforeseen and paradoxical conse-
quence of liberation. It produced the
predisposition of distancing the design
process from the world of regulations,
arguably contributing to the high qual-
ity of architecture in Portugal. At the
end of the day, we are left with the right-
eousness of Portuguese saying: What
has no solution is already solved.
Homeland, August 2014
Politics
Promontorio, TELHEIRAS HOUSING, Telheiras district, Lisbon, 1993 1997 Rui morais de sousa
The requirement of ethics
Housing Cooperatives are a very powerful lesson about freedom and compromise
JOO LUS FERREIRA
Founder Partner of PROMONTORIO
There was once this philosopher
called Socrates, for many people
just a lazy cynic who spent his
days at the Athenian Agora ar-
guing with self-proclaimed wise
men that would come to tell him
their supposed absolute truths
and to whom he proved their ig-
norance without giving any ex-
planation or answer, which
could lead them to conclusions.
And we are fortunate for this. In
this way he invented philosophy
and gave mankind the possibil-
ity of being free. He taught us
Know thyself which means:
first of all to know that you are
an individual and as an individ-
ual you must recognize and un-
derstand your individuality,
your difference and your singu-
larity. As man does not live
alone, man will find himself, will
recognize himself and will un-
derstand himself through his re-
lationships with other fellow
men. Society should not trans-
form individuality into equality
but encourage the truth that lies
in diversity.
Today, the benefits of collectiv-
ism are no longer serving the
anachronistic political purposes
of the past, where man was seen
as a generic being and not as an
individual withhis own person-
al identity. Ironically, those who
profit the most from this new
idea of collectivism is the indus-
trial society that we have be-
come (everything today is an in-
dustry, from communication to
education, or tourism), and its
products, meant to either sim-
plify our lives or to entertain us,
with politics, sport and the end-
less opinions of their commenta-
tors, modern day sophists,
wholl speak about everything
without knowing anything
about it. For the leaders of this
industrial society the People are
merely a strategic target con-
stantly manipulated to con-
sume their products. However,
a collective is a sum, an aggre-
gation, not a substance. Man is
an individual despite the fact
that he wants to live in commu-
nity with other men and wants
to share public space, be it the
corridor of a housing block or a
street in the city.
Cooperation and cooperativism
Promontorio, BLOCO CARNIDE, Carnide historical district, Lisbon,
1999 2003 Fernando Guerra
are good words to mans best in-
terests. If I decide to cooperate
then I share. Stemming from
many experiences of the human
history of dwelling, there has
been a move towards free enter-
prise, away from public imposi-
tions, or their absence, and
against the power of the main
contractors: the housing coop-
eratives. I choose my plot of
land, I choose the architect, I am
part of the process, I control the
budget and I have a house that
reflects my wishes, my dreams,
but that also respects other peo-
ples wishes and dreams. I
dream, but I share. If I share, I
look for compromises and I look
for the best possible balance.
Though I live in a community I
am free. The housing coopera-
tive is a very powerful lesson
about freedom and compro-
mise. Getting to grips with and
establishing boundaries for the
compromise between the indi-
vidual and the group is the most
interesting part of the process.
First, theres the legal commit-
ment and then the pact with the
architect, which becomes sort of
a long, drawn out date.
The arguments start when the
architect provides the client (ac-
tually the clients) with his vision
for the building and the environ-
ment. There was a brief and an
initial inquiry to capture the in-
tentions of the members of the
cooperative. With his profes-
sional expertise and his nostal-
gic or futuristic references, the
architect has to present a re-
sponse to this. That answer is an
interpretation, a creation, some-
thing new that nobody had ex-
pected before; not because it is
strange, but because being
something it excludes all the
other infinite possibilities of be-
ing. It is a reality. The discussion
moves on and decisions start to
be made one by one. Amongst
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 25
Academic
Excellence
Mariana
Brando wins
Archiprix
Portugal award
The 2014 Archiprix Jury selected the
architects Mariana Brando and Giacomo
Gallo (Special Mention) between eleven
shortlisted nominees in a ceremony held
at Lisbon Architecture Triennale
themselves, the members face
the architects proposal. They
try to find a common position.
Some dare to accept what they
recognize as a challenge, others
are always too worried about
sticking to their initial requests,
and then there are those who
start to gently sway. The archi-
tect argues, the members argue,
sometimes their different posi-
tions become polarized. There
is a fight, but the arguments are
within reason, and no one is too
radical to not accept the others
view, after all they are all look-
ing for a successful end. Like a
paradox in philosophy, this
deadlock situation is a crucial
moment. Once reached, there is
Mariana Brando
a sort of liberation, an opportu- (ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon,
nity to look back and rebuild Professor Jos Lus Possolo de Saldanha)
everything with the pieces that
matter, leaving out the negative
parts and slowly finding our way
back to reach a compromise.
Archiprix started in 1979 in the
The architect struggles with
himself, with the client, with the
authorities, with the budget, be-
Netherlands and is internationally
cause he knows that he will be recognized as one of the most
questioned or remembered for
the beauty of the building, for prestigious architecture and urbanism
the comfort of the spaces or for academic awards for excellence.
the robustness of its specifica-
tions. Different levels of respon- Archiprix Portugal was established
sibility require the capacity to be by Serra Henriques Foundation (Lisbon)
coherent and carry out a pro-
ject, and a building, that will and Archiprix Foundation (Rotterdam)
represent something with involving the Portuguese architecture
meaning for the members of the
cooperative, but also for the city universities and the Order of Architects.
or for the culture of architec- The global network compromises similar
ture, a completed work that is
open to both the community and initiatives in Chile, Netherlands, Italy,
to human intellect. This is why Turkey, Russia and Central Europe
architecture is related to the
Great Arts and may never be re- (Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Bosnia
duce to a quirk. No one can en-
close architecture in front of a
and Croatia)
private audience separated
from reality. Architecture is the
integration of all levels of knowl-
edge, from the physical and
technical to the spiritual level
Nominees
Pedro Ribeiro (Professors Joo Maria Trindade
where the lightness of its grace and Nuno Crespo); Cristina Duarte (Professor
lies. How successfully this inte- Maria Dulce Costa Campos Louo); Hugo
gration is done is what distin- Ferreira (Professor Ana Sofia Pereira da Silva);
guishes great architecture from Eduardo Oliveira (Professor Nuno Jos Ribeiro
meaningless architecture. In Loureno Fonseca); Mariana Calvete (Professor
this dimension, architecture is
Jos Aguiar); Fbio Correia (Professor Ana Vaz
more than aesthetics and be-
comes ethics. If this reality does Milheiro); Rui Rua (Professor Daniel Jimnez
not lie deep in the conscience of Ferrera); Joo Moreira (Professor Jorge Spencer);
architects, the experience of Joo Ramos (Professor Joaquim Moreno);
working on a collective dwelling Giacomo Gallo (Professors lvaro Antnio Gomes
introduces this sense of compro- Domingues and Daniel Casas Valle)
mise that awakes us for the eth-
ical requirement.
26 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Rehab
After its presentation in Venice, Artrias proposal received a local authority grant of 50,000
for its development
The Lisbon skyline handbook
is on the making
ANDR TAVARES
To help deal with Lisbons urgent reha-
bilitation, Artria has recommended
what it describes as a Skyline Opera-
tion. Instead of making bombastic
statements or offering technical solu-
tions for an unsolved problem, they
have chosen to address the question of
housing rehabilitation through the so-
called rooftop hypothesis. If one of
the main causes of urban decay is the
lack of resources to help inhabitants
keep buildings in good shape, why not
find a new and as yet unexploited way
of enhancing their savings and funding
the much needed rehabilitation? The
roofs of a large number of Lisbons his-
torical buildings are held in common-
hold by their inhabitants. Currently
unused, such spaces might offer de-
Artria bypassed
the standard
conventions that
are endlessly
debated at
congresses
on design and
architectural
rehabilitation
lightful views over the urban land-
scape. Furthermore, renovating them
in line with contemporary technical
solutions would provide enormous
benefits in terms of reducing energy
costs. If a building is prepared to make
an investment in its rooftop, this will
help to provide the income needed for
its rehabilitation. The panoramic
views over Lisbon from the various sce-
nic lookouts suggest endless possibili-
ties for countering the decay of the
citys downtown area.
Lisbon Skyline: a hidden key to pursue the citys regeneration
Lisbon is an old city, where about 90% of the buildings date back to before 1985
and more than a half are in need of repair. Since 1991 the city has lost about 9500
buildings, which illustrates the scale of real estate investment operations that
tend to merge small plots into larger buildings that are easier to monetize, but
change the urban and social fabrics.
Scheme Artria and Armanda Vilar , 2014
Terreiro do Pao
XVIII century
Tagus River
rui pinheiro
When it was presented at the opening
of the Venice Biennale, the Lisbon Sky-
line Operation created some fuss in Lis-
bon. Could it really be so simple to re-
verse its decay? No one knows, but one
thing is certain: the Skyline Operation
is not the only strategy being developed.
There is tremendous pressure from
Baixa Pombalina
XVIII century
tourism over the whole of the down-
town area, which often threatens the
very qualities it is supposed to deliver.
Neither the local population aged and
living on low incomes nor the citys
economic fabric are in a position to
counterbalance the power of the inter-
national investment funds currently
vying for a chance to reshape its social
and economic landscape. The architec-
tural impact of these investments on the
urban landscape is gradually becoming
visible and, under the magic guise of ur-
ban rehabilitation, a new city is oblite-
rating some of Lisbons unique quali-
ties. By providing both the means and
Lisbon Cathedral Alfama/ Mouraria
XIIXIII century district
22.389 <1951
Homeland, August 2014
the strategies for part of the population
to become actively involved in the citys
rehabilitation, the Lisbon Skyline Op-
eration seeks to counterbalance an ap-
parently irreversible process by mobi-
lizing its inhabitants.
The possibility of involving the citys
elderly population has not escaped the
radars of local authorities. After the
proposals initial presentation in Ven-
ice, Artria compared its research with
the results of the census undertaken in
two of Lisbons neighbourhoods, Anjos
and Pena. They noticed that the share
of commonhold properties is about
60% of total housing, with such build-
ings being on average between 76 and
84 years old and housing a population
of 13,487 inhabitants. Confining the
problem to these two neighbourhoods
allowed Artria to propose an exhaus-
tive survey of 1021 buildings, directly
encouraging the inhabitants to debate
the Skyline Operation. The proposal
was presented to the municipality,
which, through its support program
for intervention in social priority
neighbourhoods (BIP/ZIP), awarded a
grant of 50,000 euros to develop the
survey and to publish a handbook of le-
gal and technical solutions.
Such recognition and trust in the inno-
vative qualities of an architectural re-
sponse are encouraging. Contrary to
the great works of the internationally
acclaimed Portuguese architecture,
Artria responded to the question of
Lisbons rehabilitation by proposing an
alternative participatory model. They
bypassed the standard conventions
that are endlessly debated at congress-
es on design and architectural reha-
bilitation and without even a drawin-
or a prefiguration they managed to
arouse the curiosity of both private and
public sectors about an architectural
solution. This is yet further proof of the
fact that architecture is not only about
design or technical solutions, some-
thing that we have known full well ever
since Vitruvius. So, then, if this is not a
novelty, what is the news? The news is
both the ongoing debate that has begun
about Lisbons downtown rehabilitation
and the debate about the skills of Portu-
guese architects.
S. Jorge Castle
X century
Homeland, August 2014
Seen from above: rooftops offer common areas to envision contemporary action over
the complex web of property and interests currently leading to urban decay
New software for
an old city
ARTRIA
Lisbon Skyline Operation [LSO] ex-
plores a hypothesis to invert the citys
degradation through the use of the
inactive upper floors common areas,
of Lisbon's residential buildings.
Looking up at the citys rooftops, see-
ing them as a creative territory, and
using architectural tools one can en-
vision futuristic images. Neverthe-
less it is fundamental to understand
and accept the citys complexity. Ar-
tria studio and the law practice Pis-
carreta & Associados joined efforts
to conceive a multilayered overview
of Lisbon, crossing architecture with
the legal framework underlying the
citys organization. Artria studio
was set up to discuss the problematic
of urban renewal, inscribed in an ad-
verse socio-economical context for
the practice of architecture and arts.
It assimilated scarcity and started to
attempt to break into this territory
through a critical perspective,
searching for the needs, the incon-
gruities, the paradoxes and designing
solutions for the opportunities pro-
vided by so many absences. We re-
flect upon intervention hypothesis,
knowing from our experience that
our city needs architecture, not nec-
essarily construction.
Lisbon needs regeneration soft-
ware, designed to run through its
temporal strata, with the precision to
recover and bring back to life its old
and precious files. With this in mind,
many ideas can come to the table. The
Lisbon Skyline Operation is the re-
sult of a collective vision, designed to
be a new software for an old city with
the purpose of activating its regen-
eration. Its not about form, it is about
building a process, an instruction
manual to reach the implementation
Senhora do Monte scenic lookout
XII century
Graa district
We reflect upon
intervention
hypothesis,
knowing from
our experience
that our
city needs
architecture,
not necessarily
construction
stage of the rooftop hypothesis. From
the point of view of architecture it
can be an opportunity to re-think the
fifth facade and add a new layer to the
city in favour of its future.
Underlying the creation of the Sky-
lines Handbook, the coming together
of several skills around the same ta-
ble: architecture, urbanism, law, en-
vironmental engineering and man-
agement. It will provide models of ac-
tion aimed at condominiums and in-
vestors. The goal is to create, togeth-
er with the Central and Local Gov-
ernment, an operative model for ur-
ban regeneration.
In the consolidated city our role as
architects is to create continuity, to
think and program new uses for cit-
ies, searching for new ways of acting,
becoming more pro-active, facing
problems and proposing project-so-
lutions. Approaching the urban
needs by shifting our viewpoint can
lead to more accurate and sustaina-
ble architectural interventions and
to more conscious and efficient ur-
ban strategies.
Campo Pequeno
XIX century
Colnias district
XX century
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 27
Rehab
Modern
Perpletixities
P
ortuguese architecture is
known for the qualities of its
design and detailing. Propos-
sc. XXI
als like the Lisbon Skyline
Operation have aroused
some perplexity in the more
conservative Portuguese cir-
cles. Absorbing modernity
throughout the twentieth century, Por-
tuguese architects have proved their
ability as service providers. Architec-
ture has become synonymous with de-
sign, the sophisticated mastery of con-
struction techniques, and talent for re-
sponding to complex circumstances
with a poetic flavour. Internationally
acclaimed, the success enjoyed by some
sc. XX
Portuguese architects has tended to
crystallise the local perception of archi-
tects as mere designers. Technical com-
petence has seemingly entrusted archi-
tects with a presumed moral superior-
ity, struggling to improve society
through the excellence of their re-
sponse. Faced with the failures of ur-
sc . XIX
ban growth and social inequalities,
they found comfort in the pristine qual-
ity of their buildings. Although this car-
toon-like picture is heavily ironic in
tone, in Portugal there is an ongoing
debate on the limits and possibilities of
the architectural profession. Artrias
Lisbon Skyline Operation is sympto-
matic of such controversy. Why are ar-
chitects suggesting a strategy instead
sc. XVIII
of a specific design? In actual fact, Ar-
tria is not prescribing any one specific
model to apply to all Lisbon rooftops; it
might seem that their work is more of
a political or social proposition than an
architectural output. So what? Their
ability to put forward a strategy to re-
habilitate many of Lisbons decadent
dwellings is the outcome of an architec-
tural line of reasoning. And it might es-
tablish the terms for a whole host of fu-
ture architectural commissions.
Should architects abandon the ground
sc. XVII
of social and cultural innovations that
they conquered with such great effort
throughout the twentieth century?
When there are no appointments to de-
sign , stepping back might be a practi-
cal solution: not only to find commis-
sions, but also to root future practice in
a deeper social context. Whatever the
case, the preliminary success of the Lis-
bon Skyline Operation highlights the
Lisbon Storeys: Lisbon's historic strata in a building, contemporary need for such architec-
presenting the XXI \century as a top floor room with a view tural knowledge.
Scheme Artria and Armanda Vilar , 2014 ANDR TAVARES
Alvalade
XX century
Avenidas Novas
XX century
2011
52.496
LISBONS MUNICIPALITY PER
NUMBER OF BUILDINGS OF
CONSTRUCTION PERIOD
2001
53.387
[Source: INE, CENSOS]
1991
62.041
25.578 19511985 5.420 19862001
28 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Rehab
LSO is an architectural,
legal and economic tool to
rehabilitate the city through
the collective endeavour
of its inhabitants: step by
step, house by house,
roof by roof.
This urban operation is
reported in the Portuguese
Pavillion at the 14th
International Architecture
Exhibition of La Biennale di
Venezia 2014
What is the Lisbon
Skyline Operation?
LSO is a strategy to
regenerate the city through
its roofs. LSO presents the
upper floors of a building
as an economic resource
to rehabilitate entire
structures. LSO wants
to reshape old rooftops
allowing their full use as an
asset and a key element for
Lisbons rehabilitation. LSO
interventions will provide
social, economical and
environmental return for the
city and its inhabitants.
What is the identified
problem?
The dilapidated state of
buildings in Lisbons historic
districts is obvious. The
financial difficulties that
Lisbon Skyline
Operation
LSO is an architectural, legal and economic tool to
rehabilitate the city through the collective endeavor of it's
inhabitants: step by step, house by house, roof by roof
condominiums face prevent
them from undertaking the
necessary maintenance
works and lead to a decay of
buildings spread throughout
the city. The resulting
panorama is a large number
of deteriorated but inhabited
buildings. LSO is a tool to
enable the rehabilitation of
these buildings, designed to
revert this ongoing cycle.
What is this idea
founded on?
LSO strategy is based upon
the notion of communal
space. A great number
of historical buildings in
downtown Lisbon have the
ownership of their roofs
attributed to common
property, this creates a
significant asset that allows
engendering investment
solutions with great
consequence for the city. LSO
starts by revealing the roof-
scape as a physical resource
for the citys rehabilitation
allowing the creation of a
new inhabited skyline for
Lisbon.
Who can join the
Lisbon Skyline
Operation?
LSO proposes a win-
win strategy for both
condominiums and investors.
LSO designs a strategy that
fits both sides, combining
community requirements
with investors perspective.
Providing the city with an
architectonic, economic and
legal tool for its endemic
rehabilitation, maintaining
the basis of its social
fabric. Thus, neighbours
organizations and investors
can get together in a
profitable and innovative
partnership.
What can rooftops
do for the city?
LSO is literally a top down
strategy. Top floors present
several construction
problems: the majority
are badly built, poorly
insulated, and have low
quality of lighting and
salubrity. By understanding
the morphology of Lisbons
rooftops and channeling
twenty first century building
technology, this operation
Homeland, August 2014
will upgrade historical
buildings and establish an
effective strategy for the
citys regeneration.
LSO will recreate rooftops
and integrate measures to
enhance biodiversity and
energy efficiency, key factors
in the rehabilitation and
improvement of the urban
environment.
Why invest in
Lisbons rooftops?
Lisbon is the ideal city
to invest in rooftops.
The citys topography offers
unique views from rooftops,
mansards, terraces; from
these one has access to
outstanding panoramic urban
views. LSO embodies the
vision advocated in
the current Local
Development Plan for Lisbon
[PDML] which advocates
the use of attics and the
possibility to change the
overall configuration of
rooftops to provide its
effective use. Skyline
investments are available
to an enormous range of
investors, from common
citizens in search of a
home to call their own, to
investors who want to be
placed the best location.
Homeland, August 2014
Culture
Lessons from the sixties: Cabea Padro, Jos-Augusto Frana and Fernando Tvora
Rehabilitating rehabilitation
Jos Aguiar, Vitor
Ribeiro & Miguel
Reimo Costa
Architect and Professor at the
University of Lisbon, Architect and PhD
student at the University of Lisbon,
Architect and Professor at the
University of Algarve
Both Architecture and Rehabilita-
tion, seen as a new design para-
digm, are nowadays confronted
with the phenomena of globaliza-
tion, standardization and forced
amnesia, which translate (in the
opinion of Franoaise Choay) into
a loss of our capacity to build (and
reuse). The predominance of cul-
tural consumerism (architectural
as well as that of the iconic archi-
tecture of the starchitects) fosters
a semantic de-complexifying of
spatial planning, together with the
de-contextualization and atomiza-
tion of architectural production.
At the same time, it also promotes
the rehabilitation of urban built
heritage as theme parks for mass
touristic consumption: heritage
became a rushed alternative to the
grey sameness of an increasingly
more monosomic world.
In this framework, a new herit-
age fetishism can be perceived,
one which is grounded in a reac-
tionary ideology (from the time
we were so religious, patriotic,
pure and good and how amoral,
cosmopolitan, mixed and evil we
are today), and a shameless com-
mercialization of heritage, which
is exploited in the same way as any
other resource, thus becoming a
commodity. In the new mass in-
dustry that exploits experiences
of the past, historical centres
become the new Disneylands or
theme parks, complete with medi-
eval fairs or chocolate festivals.
Architectural magazines exalt
the egotism of authorial icons when
confronted with urban heritage.
The current discussion on histori-
cal urban landscape is the ideal set-
ting for this confrontation (look to
our next door neighbours' Madrids
Caixaforum, or Las Setas
Metropol Parasol or the Pelli tow-
er in Seville, for notable examples,
whilst on our side these have always
more concealed and mediocre, such
as the facade extravaganza of Her-
on Castilho Lisboa [building] or
that of the Cardosas Porto). And
all of this results in a fundamental
injustice (mixed with some revan-
chism, if we follow Neil Smiths
sharp reasoning): an accelerated
process of social segregation (gen-
trification), promoted by the major-
ity of European countries and be-
yond (Neil Smith quotes the USA,
Canada, New Zealand, Japan and
Brazil), is driving the poor out of the
historical centres and denying
them the right to the city (Henri
Lefbvre). The rehabilitation of ur-
ban (and cultural) heritage is direct-
ed towards tastes of ample econom-
ic capacity, in an exclusive, selective
fruition. This is the new dream of
the real estate peddlers, historical
centres as private condominiums
and the heart-wrenching loss of col-
lective identity that follows!
Fernando Tvora, Estudo de Renovao Urbana do Barredo. Regeneration of the block QIII Barredo: status and proposed elevations
Drawing FIMS / FT / 0197-01-0030, Fundao Instituto Marques da Silva, archives
Picture from Fernando Tavora, Study of Barredo Urban Renewal F. Tavora family archives
"Continuation-
through-
innovation.
People
are worth
infinitely more
than houses"
When regarding contemporary
processes of segregation and ur-
ban landscape concerns , it is im-
portant to remember the lessons
of three portuguese pioneers from
the 60s, Fernando Tvora, Cabea
Padro and Jos-Augusto Frana,
who authored three proposals
that remain, for the most part,
largely unknown. Three visions
whose confrontation with the in-
ternational context of their time
brought Portugal, in as little as
half a decade, to the forefront of
the reflection on the conservation
of urban heritage (and vernacular
architectural practices). They did
so by proposing innovative models
as opposed to the alleged inevita-
bility of the need for substitution
and sanitization in urban renewal
as embraced by Modernism.
These proposals had the addi-
tional intention of integrating the
principles of the protection of ur-
ban heritage into the instruments
of design, urban planning and ter-
ritorial planning.
In the Algarve, architect Ca-
bea Padro developed the pio-
neering but largely unknown
studies of Prospeco e defesa thored by historian Jos-Augusto
da paisagem urbana do Algarve
[Survey and protection of the Al-
garves urban landscape], carried
out between 1965 and 1970 under
the tutelage of the Directorate-
General for Urbanization Servic-
es (DGSU) which also saw, in
1968, the pioneering creation of
a Service for the Protection and
Restoration of Rural Landscape.
The fundamental idea was to
study and delimit urban and ver-
nacular centres with significant
heritage value, seeking to protect
them from the intense process of
urban renewal that had started
in the meantime. There was a
plan for fifty publications docu-
menting the heritage, architec-
tural and landscape value of for-
ty-seven centres of which thir-
ty-eight volumes were produced
and were then forgotten about
somewhere in the central admin-
istration archives (which facili-
tated countless shady dealings).
In Lisbon, the Estudo das zo-
nas ou unidades urbanas de
carcter histrico-artstico
[Study of urban zones or units of
historical-artistic character], au-
of his/her role in general), it is
Frana and promoted by the Mu-
nicipality in 1967, proposed the
demarcation and preservation of
different centres of the so-called
Pombaline style or period,
which form part of the rehabilita-
tion programme of Illuminist
architecture fostered by the Mar-
quis of Pombal after the 1755
earthquake. Regarded and under-
stood, as a whole, as a document
for understanding the global pic-
ture from the various master
plans produced in the 18th centu-
ry, they redesigned privileged ar-
eas for preservation to be estab-
lished through the Urban Devel-
opment Master Plan for Lisbon.
Though distinct in their propo-
sitional approach and depth of ac-
ademic research framing each of
the proposals far more devel-
oped in the case of J. A. Frana for
Lisbon these studies share an
acknowledgement of the recently-
established importance given to
issues of urban image, referring
us to the studies of Gordon Cullen
and Kevin Lynch .
On a different note, the studies
of Cabea Padro for the Algarve
propose a strong component of
correction and scenography to the
changes detected, which entailed
a considerable amount of works
said to be therapeutic. This result-
ed in a degree of economic unfea-
sibility and a reduction in practical
effects, which owes something to
a kind of symptomatic effacement
or provoked forgetfulness these
studies of Survey and protection
of the Algarves urban landscape
were subjected to for decades.
In the studies of Frana and Ca-
bea Padro, rehabilitation prior-
ities were not yet defined as part
of an integrated model for the con-
servation of heritage like the one
proposed by Tvora for the area of
Barredo, in Porto, which bears
close affinities to its contempo-
rary protection plan proposed for
Bologne, Italy.
Integrating social sciences in a
pioneering way, Fernando Tvo-
ras truly ground-breaking Es-
tudo da Renovao urbana do
Barredo [Study for the Urban
Renovation of Barredo], was de-
veloped together with the Munic-
ipality of Porto in 1969 [and it is
important to bear in mind that,
at the time, the term rehabilita-
tion was not in use, only much
later through the initiatives of
the European Council in the mid
70s did it become widespread].
Rejecting the Modernist-driven
intentions of a systematic demoli-
tion of Portos historical neigh-
bourhoods, which until then had
been considered insalubrious -
but which today are listed as a
World Heritage site Tvora pro- BIP/ZIP program created by the
poses a new goal , that of an inte-
grated and more cautious reha-
bilitation, searching for a model
capable of being rolled out to the
whole city.
With its conception of rehabil-
itation that is absolutely contem-
porary and offers the individual
perspective of the architect (and
bilitate, to live in the city center,
Tvoras proposal in particular
that has nowadays acquired a
new, specific relevance. This is
owed to the inclusive character
that it acknowledges or proposes
(by associating physical action to
social intervention), as well as by
the social and cultural dimension
of what is at stake: People are
worth infinitely more than hous-
es, and by the emphasis placed
on the importance of participa-
tion (active, not merely acquies-
cent). Above all, Tvoras propos-
al stands out for the enduring
lessons that the past assures the
future, as it establishes a princi-
ple that postulates and synthe-
sizes its entire programme, that
of continuation-through-inno-
vation, in a constant movement
for change towards better condi-
tions, but respecting the positive
values that may exist and should
not, therefore, be destroyed.
This encompasses the surpass-
ing of the dichotomy between
major art practices/minor art
practices and the rejection of
pastiche. All of these principles
had already been stated by Tvo-
ra in the early 60s, in his book Da
Organizao do Espao (1962)
[Of the Organization of Space]. It
was thus that integrated rehabil-
itation was invented in our midst!
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 29
Rs-do-Cho
Rs-do-Cho (Ground Floor) is
the name of an initiative led by a
group of 4 young architects that
identified the vacancy of com-
mercial ground floors as a main
cause for the built heritage deg-
radation in Lisbon. With the aim
of promoting the occupation of
vacant ground floors as a pro-
moter of urban regeneration,
they began to develop a project
with two complementary fronts:
raising the awareness of the im-
portance and benefits of occupy-
ing commercial ground floors
and creating a network between
all the concerned parties: own-
ers, tenants, associations and lo-
cal merchants. Looking for pro-
posing new ways of occupancy
and tenancy, they propose the
idea of co-working spaces as a
more affordable solution. They
gave the example with their
workspace rehabilitating a va-
cant ground floor for their stu-
dio. The pilot project of rehabil-
itation in the ground floor is now
encouraging the rehabilitation
on the other floors.
Zara Ferreira
Agulha
num Palheiro
In Lisbon there are nearly 1,900
empty buildings in urgent need
of intervention they say. Needle
in a Haystack is a project devel-
oped by the architecture studio
Artria. Its first phase was fund-
ed by the Lisbons City Council
Local Housing Program, in 2011,
enabling the creation of a web-
site: an online platform that iden-
tifies and share information
about old vacant houses in the
center of Lisbon, available in the
real estate market. The main
goal was to turn the process of
searching for old houses to reha-
into an easy task.
On a second phase Needle in
a Haystack was supported by the
Crisis Buster Grant promoted by
the 2013 Lisbon Architecture
Triennale, allowing the con-
struction of an instruction man-
ual to guide citizens on the pro-
cess of refurbishing their prop-
erties.
Designed as a clarifying and
intuitive tool to support the re-
habilitation of the Lisbon cent-
er, this project articulates a
mapping of possible rehabilita-
tion cases connecting new cli-
ents with institutional partners
or real estate agents with a spe-
cific know how given by quali-
fied professionals about the
whole process of rehabilitation,
both in technical and legal
terms.
In times of economic crisis,
Needle in a Haystack believes
the community has an impor-
tant role to play in regeneration;
through this project, citizens
are closer to know how they can
participate of the revitalization
of their city, in the most sustain-
able way for everyone.
Zara Ferreira
http://www.agulhanumpalheiro.pt/
30 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Detached
Back to basics a conversation with SAMI Arquitectos
All about the
house
ject of Villa Ordos 100 made you reaf-
in June 2014, Susana Ventura sat down for a conversation with architects Ins
firm further still your way of designing?
Vieira da Silva and Miguel Vieira, founders of SAMI Arquitectos, at their Setbal M: When we started working in 2002
Siza was the reference from our educa-
office. They are mainly known for their built projects, of which there are already
quite a few, despite being a young architecture office. The built work rests tion and Herzog&DeMeuron were an
therefore at the core of architecture and it is, for them, its irreducible expression,
interpellation: why would Siza work on
form, on space, where matter seemed a
perpetuating a large Portuguese tradition of construction and of the ineffable more neutral element to allow the ex-
search for the right composition in architectural work. Conducted in three ercise to be of light and space and why
parts, this interview explores their ideas on architecture and their role as young were H&dM building out of wood, stone
architects concentrated in the difficult exercises of designing the evidence (to or plastic? Later, Zumthor appears be-
quote lvaro Siza), their ideas on the detached house beyond types, but towards cause of the idea of a project being a
the particularities of the constraints and the elements of architecture in the
nearly never-ending process, but the
biggest references are from the first
real space, taking their built work as example, and finally around the space of half of the 20th century: Lewerentz,
intimacy, the ongoing project for the Venice Architecture Biennale, which seeks to Loos, Mies van der Rohe, facing ques-
understand a relationship which is absent today from the built work: what happens tions which lie in the eternal doubt of
between the wall and the body. what may we want to add.
I: Having started working at Pico island-
Azores is indissociable from our way of
thinking architecture. The most inter-
esting was forcing us to go back to what
First Part is essential in architecture. We wanted
to shed all kind of effects, to pursue what
On architecture
is really important in the project: the
light, the space, the form, the adequacy
of function, the work with the clients
and the matter. We went very far, to Or-
dos-China, to realise that our place is
and being an
here simply because we feel Portuguese:
the scale of our buildings, the use of ma-
terials, the preoccupations in the do-
main of the art of construction and what
architect
it may have of poetic. It is not a limita-
tion, it is not a simplification, it is our
way of thinking and doing architecture.
S: In the current panorama of architec-
ture where several architects play such
different roles as curators, performers,
among others, where even architecture
schools question the teaching of the dis-
Susana: At the penultimate Venice S: Well have to go back to the begin- cipline traditionally centred on the ex-
Biennale, Hans-Ulrich Obrist made an ning and to your education as archi- ercise of the architectural project, SAMI
interview series with several architects tects to understand your way of think- seem to resist that tendency with a very
and artists where he always started with ing and doing architecture, because in clear idea of what is architecture and
the same question. Despite it only mak- it we are able to identify characteristics what an architect does, this idea stem-
ing sense if one could draw a continuous that stem from a very specific Portu- ming, mainly, from the built work. What
line between that moment (which Obrist guese architectonic culture, like the im- is your role as architects, for which you
defines as an awakening) and the work portance you attribute to the place, feel responsible? Because it is felt in the
produced (which is impossible) as a hom- which you seek to understand under time you demand for a project, the re-
age and continuity to that series of inter- various aspects, the respect for History, sponsibility you assume, in what is asked
views: What was your epiphany? the research about materials. Still in of you is always faced with unmatched
2m
the wake of Obrists question, he usu- acuity, as if it is life itself and, in a way, it
0
Miguel: There were several epipha- ally asks the architects who were their is the life of those who inhabit space.
nies but they were immediately contra- heroes or influences in the field of
balanced by moments of great question- architecture. Inside that question, Id I: Time is essential because we want to
ing. It is a permanent dichotomy. like to ask you which were your refer- go as far as possible into each project
ences that made you alter your percep- be it a house or a public building. It is
Ins: More than an awakening there tion, and, consequently, your way of do- an exercise of much revision, insist-
are some moments of clairvoyance as- ing architecture. Or, on the contrary, if ence, confirmation, searching for the
sociated to the project process. any experience, as for instance, the pro- right form, the right ambience, trying
DETACHED HOUSES by SAMI Arquitectos
Villa Ordos 100
Ordos. China.
Project 2008
to find the moment where we feel some
poetry in it.
M: I think that the idea of responsibility
is key for us and has to do with our char-
acter, also being indissociable from our
society. It is a kind of permanent weight.
Therefore time is a sort of an insurance
and guaranty because you make, see, re-
make, see again and ponder
M: We never know when we set off for
a project which are the variables that
are at stake, what are the singularities
of each project. Only the process will
reveal what is important. Villa Ordos
100 is paradigmatic of that sense of re-
sponsibility. Our neighbourhood of a
hundred young architects selected to
build a 1000m2 villa was completely ir-
relevant in China compared to Portugal
where a house is the place where you
will live forever. Still on the question of
responsibility, it will be as important to
defend and explain an idea as being
able to frame our options, knowing that
our decisions follow a common thread.
Wallpaper house
Project 2011
0 1.5m
Homeland, August 2014
I: The idea for the ideas sake is not
something were interested in, it doesnt
give us anything that endures. The sen-
sation of the perennial, of density, of
intentionality, in the projects, is com-
pletely opposed to speed and superfici-
ality. It doesnt make sense for us to act
without having that will to make some-
thing pertinent.
S: On a text about the Portuguese dif-
ference, Jorge Figueira mentions that
SAMI represent a sensibility rooted in
our [Portuguese] practice: pragmatism
with a ludic sense; enlightened formal
effect with few means; poetic pondera-
tion and practice of the several project
components as motivation for architec-
ture. For Figueira, the very exercise of
the project is the motive that struc-
tures the work, and the instruments,
used for creating it, are in turn those
that belong to the discipline of architec-
ture: the program, the composition and
form, and the poetry you find in com-
mon things. How would you define your
work, understanding the ever present
E/C house
Pico Island. Portugal
Completion 2013
Homeland, August 2014
dichotomy between method-instru-
ments and the built work, to use Jorge
Figueiras words?
M: It is a theme I find most curious is
what motivates us to do things, how we
do them, what are the strategies. I won-
der if it is possible to make a building out
of ideas alone. We treat ideas like we
treat the client, the budget, the place. An
idea exists but has to be worked on, has
to be understood, will be deepened with
time and then will be part of the project.
There isnt an idea as something impos-
ing, conditioning the process, arriving
and solving it all. It is one of the elements
which make up the whole.
I: The process is a process of adding
and never removing information in or-
der to concentrate or force an idea,
erasing everything that contradicts it.
You add information, test it, accept
some of the variables which may seem
like difficulties and you try to under-
stand how they may give deepness an
complexity to the project.
S/R house
Bali. Indonesia
Project 2014
Second Part
On the detached
house
Susana: When we started this ad-
venture together, you said that you
didnt want to do speculative exercises.
If we look at the history of architecture
we realise that there are important mo-
ments of transformation of architec-
ture itself attached to experimental de-
tached houses, whose projects stem
from conceptual enunciations which
are assumed by the architects as mani-
festos, as for example, lEsprit Nouveau
pavilion by Le Corbusier, the House of
the Future by the Smithsons, the Case-
Study House by the Eames, or still, the
Endless House by Kiesler. As Colomina
states, the manifesto precedes the
work: it is a blueprint for the future.
Nevertheless, in your case it is the con-
structed work that precedes the mani-
festo - which is not actually a manifesto
The detached house is now at the centre of the city (view of the pathway that links
the Albarquel Fort to the city centre of Setbal) paulo catrica
- and ends up defending a way of look-
ing, thinking and doing architecture.
What is your understanding of the con-
ceptual and speculative exercises about
the program of the detached house,
which led you to assume it, starting as
well from your previous experiences?
Miguel: In our case there is total focus
on the project because we are interested
in understand how we may be profound,
rigorous, conceptual, make each decision
reflect a thought through practice. And
for that the client is a fundamental piece.
As Terence Riley refers about the de-
tached house on the The un-private
house exhibition, a singular house al-
ways stems from a forward thinking cli-
ent. I think this is one of the fundamental
precepts of our work: having clients who
are specialists about being clients, be-
cause they are critical, they address us.
Ins: The pertinence of the project is
being built as youre looking for the
problems that are at stake and you set
certain variables with the certainty
that you have deepened your knowl-
edge and then circle around trying to
understand where the project may be
heading. When you have a client that
triangulation of ideas becomes even
more pertinent.
S: Looking at your work the detached
house is the program you have devel-
oped the most, the reason for which the
curator invited you to think about this
type, possibly with the magnificent im-
ages of the C/Z house in his mind be-
cause we can hardly find a better exam-
ple to plainly express the house in the
landscape, a house where the land-
scape is itself an inhabitant, where the
planes of glass, which unite the compact
volumes, disappear and the wind trav-
erse space and the platform of the vol-
umes extend infinitely through the field.
Curiously, if we think about the E/C
house, where there is an inversion of
the social space and the private space,
that inversion could be easily taken as
a subversion of the model of a two sto-
rey house but looking at your project,
we are able to understand where it
comes from. It is not your preoccupa-
tion the subversion of the model, the
re-defining it or the search for a more
abstract exercise, which may more eas-
ily transform into a type, but it is how
the things which stem from those par-
ticularities, you are finding, determine
each gesture. It would be interesting to
understand which were those exercis-
es, those moments of clairvoyance, as
you said, where, in fact, there was that
determination.
I: The E/C house has all to do with to-
pography and with the typology of the
pre-existing rural house which pre-
sented housing on the first floor where-
as the ground floor was dedicated to
agricultural activities. The project tries
to use the strength of the pre-existence
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 31
Detached
There is something
very beautiful one
wants, as Zumthor
says, which is to
assume the house
as an artificial
object, but which
may appear, as
well, like it has
been there forever
and to think how a new house could
take advantage of it not seeking to in-
vert it. We wanted to keep the ruin,
have the stone with its most authentic
character as a way to keep its beauty.
M: I never looked at that house as an
inversion of typology. If we put our-
selves into a logic where we have the
models and the typologies catalogued
wed have that temptation. On the
house we are designing in Porto, the re-
sult is a five years exercise on searching
the right place to put the stairs, which
in a typical 19th century house in Porto
is a determining theme. Suddenly, you
realise that the house is simple, but the
structural project is much more com-
plex, precisely because the stairs are
not in the place where it would be prag-
matic for them to be. On the house we
are designing in Bali all the informa-
tion about the place comes from a visit
where you try to understand a new re-
ality but you cant say you know the
model or the typology of the Bali house
and that youll try to subvert it. In the
process, it may even be that it happens
but the exercise never starts there.
S: But that is what is interesting: you go
for each of the houses not by trying to
understand all the models and the var-
ious types of detached housing but
from a very concrete situation and the
work is built upon it. In parallel, there
is a theory of architecture extremely
focused on the analysis of models and
types, which doesnt look at whats spe-
cific and then cant pick a house, say the
E/C house, and think solely and exclu-
sively from the house, without recur-
ring to models or types, which may
serve as reference or comparison.
M: There is something very beautiful
one wants, as Zumthor says, which is to
assume the house as an artificial ob-
ject, but which may appear, as well, like
it has been there forever, as the exam-
ple of Comenda house by architect
Ral Lino in Serra da Arrbida,
Setbal.
0 2m
C/Z house
Pico Island. Portugal
Completion 2011
0 1.5m
32 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL
Detached
The landscape at the heart of the intimacy space (view from the top of Albarquel's fort towards Arrbida Sierra)
Third Part
On the space of
intimacy
SUSANA: In the face of the theme set
by the curator, you chose the council of
Setbal to think about the detached
house, where there seems to be, espe-
cially in Serra da Arrbida, a tradition
of detached houses, though mostly hol-
iday housing. Nevertheless, your ap-
proach to the theme sets itself apart
from these examples, not only through
the difference you introduce to the pro-
gram itself - the house becomes a per-
manent home - but also through your
choice for its place. What made you
choose the centre of the city of Setbal?
INS: The curator set us the challenge
of designing a detached house, in a nat-
ural context, for a client who we should
ideally find, working in collaboration
with a municipality. It seemed interest-
ing to identify our object of study and
place it in context with the following
question: Is there a place in the cities
for a detached house, permanently in-
habited, strongly related to the land-
scape, drawn by an architect in close
connection with a specific client?. We
chose the city of Setbal for its relation-
ship with its surroundings: the Serra da
Arrbida, the Sado river and estuary.
We then went looking for sites, within
the city limits, in which it would be pos-
sible to design a detached house and we
found places that, either for their diffi-
culty of access, or for the pre-existenc-
es, or for its topography, are still empty.
We identified these places and we
looked to register them in a Map of
Places of Intimacy(Homeland - News
from Portugal #1) designed with the ar-
chitect Brbara Maes, and depicted places we chose and, for their geo-
in Paulo Catricas photographs.
MIGUEL: I was thinking about why the
city versus the isolated situations in the
sequence of everything weve been saying.
If Im in a more isolated situation, I have
less information, I have less references
and, because of that, the project becomes
more artificial. By bringing the project
into the centre of the city, we are giving it
more information and complexity.
I: As there was this very important
premiss of working with a municipality
we set up the challenge of looking at the
city transposing the scale of the house
into the territory, believing that this
way of thinking may help to solve some
of the pending questions in our cities.
The exercise consisted in choosing,
from the various places we found to-
gether with the Setbal City Halls
staff, those that seemed the most inter-
esting, either due to their topographi-
cal condition or its relationship with
the landscape and imagine where we
would place a house, so as to highlight
the places singularities. And, then, try-
ing to understand, how we would find
a real client, for whom to develop a
house, other of the curators premisses.
M: Another important premiss was
that these projects should carry on be-
yond the Biennales timeframe. It was
hard to understand how the exercise of
building a house for a specific client,
would provide any sort of long term an-
swer. There was a particularly interest-
ing moment when we asked to the
Setbal City Halls staff if this poetic
and intimate look at the territory would
make sense to them. The answer was
positive, as if that tool was precisely
what was missing since the ones that
exist are not enough. There are places
which demand to be treated as if they
were a house, as if they belong to some-
one. Today, when we look at the city, we
feel that none of those places should be
treated as an index. The very specific
rules may have this generous size, nec-
essary when there are uncommon con-
ditions to solve places which are of in-
terest to all.
M: Its interesting this idea of being dif-
ficult to attribute a rule without under-
standing what is being analysed. It is as
if we could have open ended places, in
the sense that it is not possible to deter-
mine their vocation without a careful
analysis of their particularities.
I: There is a very poetic charge in all the
graphical condition, these places are
preponderant in the city itself. Any
building built on these places will
It made sense
to us to develop
this idea of
intimacy,
which could be
transversal to
various scales
of the work and
which appears as
a timeless theme
paulo catrica
change the citys landscape. By consid-
ering these places of exception we pro-
posed to think how could they be given
back to the city through the idea of a
detached house.
S: Of the various places you mapped,
you opted for the Albarquel fort as the
place for your project. What was it that
oriented this choice?
I: The project starts with the room. It
made sense to us to develop this idea of
intimacy, which could be transversal to
various scales of the work and which
appears as a timeless theme when we
think about the house theme. We
looked to understand the genesis of the
private house in Portugal, whose oldest
examples date from the medieval pal-
aces and it was interesting to recover
the idea of the post-chamber as a start-
ing point for this idea of intimacy. The
medieval palaces had in their cham-
bers, sleeping room, the most impor-
tant room, preceded by the antecham-
ber and finalised by the post-chambers,
in a succession of spaces, accessed
through each other, of increasing inti-
macy. We started thinking about how
we could design this space of intimacy
without developing the project of a
house. Thats where the idea of finding
an adequate pre-existence appeared,
to which we could add this post-cham-
ber, our space of intimacy.
M: In this search for making things
pertinent and turning them as real as
possible, the possibility arose for the
Albarquel fort to be transformed into a
municipal house that could have a more
intimate space for the guests that
might stay over. The pertinence of join-
ing these two universes: the public and
the private, of being able to, actually,
build it, made us propose to the city hall
that the project was the addition of a
space of intimacy to that structure.
S: It became evident that you werent
interest in the abstract exercise of the
project of a detached house opting in-
stead for thinking about a theme which,
in the meanwhile, became transversal
to several components of your proposal.
You started by thinking it at the scale of
the room, from which you went to the
scale of the territory. What do you ex-
pect to get from this exercise to your
current practice, if it does not get built?
I: It will be interesting to add a new
space to this building which will have
all the daily gestures not having any
specific one at the same time.
M: What I like about this exercise is
that even though we are particularly
keen on its real side, it belongs to the
Venice Biennales context where Kool-
haas proposes the fundamentals: the
idea of intimacy is something funda-
mental to us, understanding that inti-
macy isnt privacy, it is something you
look for in your relationship with your-
self, with the other, with cities, with the
divine. If we dont create intimacy, we
will not create depth, we will create su-
perficiality. Our search for the funda-
mental is that space of intimacy.
Arrbida's habitat
Five examples of detached houses / Susana Ventura + SAMI Arquitectos
Ral Lino, Detached House known
as House in Comenda, Comenda,
Setbal 1903
The House in Comenda is built on a
promontory at the end of the Arrbidas
natural park where its beautiful green
and exuberant vegetation merges into
the green of the ocean. It is said that the
eduardo anahory
Eduardo Anahory, House
in Galapos, Serra da Arrbida,
Setbal, 1961
House in Galpagos, by Eduardo
Anahory, a Portuguese self-trained
architect, like Le Corbusier, was
a rare example of prefabricated
housing during the 60s in Portugal.
The house was built on rocky a
plateau with a prefabricated structure
and a system of panels which could
be opened or closed, expanding or
enclosing the living area and the large
balcony overlooking the sea. After
a few months of use, the architect
noticed that even if the house
sometimes faced the hard weather
and the crashing of the waves, it was
nonetheless intact. The house was
partly demolished and transformed
into a bar which burnt down in the
90s, but there in the midst of the
ruins and of the memory, one still
dreams about its reconstruction now
made possible by the justice courts.
atelier EDUARDO SOUTO MOURA
Eduardo Souto de Moura,
House in the Serra da Arrbida,
Serra da Arrbida, Setbal,
1994-2002
Souto de Moura explains this
house making use of a quotation by
Edgar Morin When reality resists
simplification, we must turn to
complexity. Complexity is the breaking
of the disorder of randomness and
uncertainty in the reality Although
apparently complex in form with its
many different volumes, each one
devoted to a different function or
use, the gesture which gave birth to
the house is simple and immediately
perceptible when one understands
the topography and the surrounding
landscape. The entrance is at the top
of the hill, through an exterior patio
where one descends to enter into the
house. Inside, the different rooms vary
in their proportions to pursue the light
and the beautiful landscape until the
end of the horizon where the sea lies.
Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014
International
The importance of Portuguese Architecture in the Atlantic Islands a contemporary perspective
Contemporary portuguese
architecture in the atlantic islands
Biblioteca de Arte - Fundao Calouste Gulbenkian JOS MANUEL
client, the French Count Armand, asked
FERNANDES
Architect, professor at the University
the architect Ral Lino to sleep for one of Lisbon
night under the moonlight on the site
before starting to design the house. This
was one of the first houses designed
A natural, geographical and his-
by Ral Lino where his trademarks can torical extension of Continental
already be found: a respect for nature Portugal, the settling and urbani-
and a careful balance between place and zation of the North-Atlantic is-
architecture, nature and artifice. lands, namely of the archipelagos
of Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde
and So Tom and Prncipe, start-
ed roughly 500 years ago.
This process allowed for the
emergence, creation and consoli-
dation of a form of architecture
that is embedded in the islands it
translated, on the one hand, the
influence of continental works
from the motherland and, on
the other, the ability to generate
atelier lvaro siza vieira
distinct forms and spaces, whose
character is rooted in their strik-
lvaro Siza Vieira, Detached ing local environments.
Holiday Home, Azeito, Setbal, The so called insularity or
1974 insular mentality materialized
itself, in Azores and Madeira
The project dates backs to immediately the two archipelagos that to this
before the Portuguese Revolution of day still fly the Portuguese flag
April 1974, which may explain the , in heightened features of reli-
abandonment of this project by the giousness, rurality and seismic
clients. Intended as a holiday home, the resistance.
plan presents a single-storey house with Collectively acknowledged and
five rooms which show the interesting
assimilated, this character has
characteristic of an antechamber almost
expressed itself architecturally
as wide as the bedroom (a feature
in historical styles as significant
that could easily convert a detached
single house into a small rural hotel).
as Basaltic Manueline and
Moreover, the plan includes several
Azorean Baroque with strik-
facilities of a holiday home - swimming ing contrasts created between
pool, tennis court, and a games room - lime-based whitewash and the
at the same time it seems to re-interpret black volcanic rock used for con-
a local type of housing (the villa). The struction, as seen in churches
several apertures to the exterior, in a and manor houses, as well as an
multidirectional way, indicate that the intense, atavistic decorative tra-
house would stand still on a plot defined dition that can be traced back di-
by the architect with the natural slope of rectly to Mainland Portugal, and
plantas.pdf
the terrain continuing from it. which has only been further en-
hanced.
1
07/07/14
Also, this character has assert-
ed itself in highly differentiated
16:38
level 00.pdf 1 07/07/14 16:41
vernacular architectures, with
volcanic rock as its main building
material: following a reinvented,
and adapted trans-Mediterrane-
an tradition, the insular house, of
the islanders, has been perfected
over time.
With stone walls, a tiled roof,
timber partitions, and laid-out as
geometrically regular habitats,
the design of the traditional pop-
ular house possesses great for-
mal balance and a heightened
sense of aesthetics which can
also be seen in the 19th century
atelier AIRES MATEUS
decorative Imprios (small
chapels of a popular Christian re-
Aires Mateus, House in the ligious cult, which had a large fol-
Arrbida Natural Park, Arrbida lowing on the islands).
Natural Park, Setbal, 2002 In the 20th century modernity
arrived to islands, as early as the
1930s, in the form of a new archi-
In the architects own words, the project tecture with new technical and
is a response to its mineral context, aesthetical qualities that was im-
sticking out as something tectonic mediately taken on by local au-
of natural concrete anchored in the thors. In the Azores, the work of
orography of the mountain where the highly talented engineer Ma-
nuel Antnio Vasconcelos (1907-
the existing pinewood punctuates
the inner patios of the house, bushy 1960, island of So Miguel) are of
vegetation is prolonged by the slope
towards its interior and moss covers
significant importance, whilst in
Madeira, it is worth highlighting
the concrete walls, just as it covers
the stones around the terrain. There
works by architect Edmundo Ta-
vares (1892-1983), such as the re-
isnt a better description of the actual
state of the house than these words
markable Farmers Market
(1940) and several neo-tradition-
which seem to be premonitory. The
construction stopped a few years
al single-family houses in Aveni-
da do Infante (Funchal).
ago becoming a contemporary ruin
of flat horizontal concrete slabs. The
The 50s and 60s saw the ap-
vegetation invaded the house, melting
it into the surrounding landscape just
pearance of isolated, though of
high quality, works by modern
as the architects had predicted for the
real house.
authors such as Joo Correia Re-
belo (1923-2006; Almeida Lima
house, Ribeira Grande, 1960),
Eduardo Read Teixeira (1914-
1996, Deodato Soares house,
Ponta Delgada), both born in So
Furnas Lake Villas Ana janeiro
Miguel, and Raul Choro Ramal-
ho (1914-2002) in Madeira (So-
cial Security complex, Funchal,
1963-72).
In these works, the important
use of volcanic rock and the lumi-
nous use of lime-based white-
washed surfaces, is interpreted
and reinvented within a modern
geometry, anchored in with the
use of reinforced concrete and in
a dialogue with the transparency
of glazing and the colourful, or-
ganic textures of wood.
It was only after Portugal be-
came a democracy (1974-76), that
the Atlantic islands saw an in-
tense influx of functional build-
ing renewal, both infrastructur-
al and architectural.
The cities on the Islands devel-
oped considerably and a large
number of authors emerged, ei-
ther native or locally established
and working on the islands, of
which we can name a few (with-
out prejudice to many others),
who have been very active espe-
cially since the 1980s-90s.
In their works one never loses
sight of the importance of the is-
lands landscape, a kind of long-
ing for the land that harks back
to the rural, but is neither anti-
quated nor backward-looking
rather, it morphed poetically and
attuned to a keen sense of moder-
nity, often experimental and im-
bued with the famed genius loci.
These are often delicate and sen-
sitive works, sometimes with an
almost craftsman-like approach
Gruta das Torres Ana Janeiro
that can be found in their love of
detail and the pursuit of an appro-
priate scale and integration.
Joo Maia Macedo (b.1948;
Canto da Fontinha building,
c.1985; Casa da Vigia house, S. Vi-
cente Ferreira, c. 2008, So
Miguel) is an author devoted to
So Miguel (working with archi-
tect Manuela Braga); Pedro Mau-
rcio Borges (b.1963) designed sin-
gle-family houses that show great
understanding of morphology
and context, such as the Pacheco
de Melo house (1992-2001, S. Vi-
the island, have also carried out
amongst the architects from Ma-
deira, works by Joo Favila Men-
eses (Casa Branca Hotel, 1994-
Restaurant, Ribeira Grande,
cente Ferreira, So Miguel), win-
ner of the SECIL Award, Portu-
gals highest distinction in archi-
tecture - bringing to the fore of
public discussion the importance
of the islands architecture.
The most coherent and com-
plete body of work by an insular
author is undoubtedly that of Pau-
lo Gouveia (1939-2009) who, in an
intelligent and sensitive reinter-
pretation of the islands architec-
ture, combined materials and for-
mal systems, American and Euro-
pean influences, to launch a per-
Almost six years ago the house
sonalized and critical vernacu-
lar, imagining the architecture
of travel and adventure to pro-
duce designs such as the Whalers
Museum in Pico Island.
The work of Paulo David in Ma-
deira is also inspiring (Casa das
Mudas arts centre, Calheta,
2003-2004).
Other younger authors, either
Azorean or who have settled on
noteworthy works, for a variety
of different types of buildings;
ana de Lima and it could be seen
as the equivalent as the manor-
98) or Joo Goes Ferreira (Rob-
erto Ivens school, Ponta Delgada,
2001-2006, with Tiago Correia),
to name but two, should also not
go unmentioned.
In the Azores, we notice works
by Fernando Monteiro (Alabote
1998-2001, a white structure set
atop a basalt wall overlooking the
ocean; Furnas Lake Villas, box-
like units built for tourists in
cryptomeria wood and set in the
volcanic crater of Lagoa das Fur-
nas, 2003-2004, with Lus
Almeida e Sousa), by Ana Veloso
(Horta Library and Archive,
2008) or by Rui Pinto (Casa-
Memria Manuel de Arriaga cul-
tural centre, Horta, Faial Island,
2012, with Teresa Robalo).
Deeply in tune with its set-
ting, flourishing and intense,
the architecture of the islands
both attracts and delights us!
NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 33
Modern
forgotten:
A casa de Ofir
There is a house in the middle of
the Ofir pine forest, forgotten
by many. It is in an advanced
state of decay, although consid-
ered a milestone in the panora-
ma of Portuguese architecture .
Design by the portuguese ar-
chitect Fernando Tvora as a va-
cation house and it is a clear ex-
ample of the dialogue between
modern and vernacular.
Built between 1957 and 1958,
the project results (based on
Fernando Tvoras text in the
book Fernando Tvora(Blau,
1993) in a truthful composition
of several factors, such as the
family, the land, the Architect
and the traditional construction
had a fire that partially de-
stroyed it. Since then it is in
need of a profound interven-
tion. The house awaits a solu-
tion that has to come from its
owners and heirs.
Although the efforts made,
the owners are reluctant to ac-
cept public support, once it re-
quires the house to become of
collective use, losing its private
property character.
In December 2012 the house
was classified as a Monument of
Public Interest. Still, the rating
is not enough. Ofir's House need
a deep intervention in order to
not becoming the ruins of a re-
markable exemple of portu-
guese modern architecture.
Antnio Faria
Modern
recover: Casa
das Marinhas
Built between 1954 and 1957,
Casa das Marinhas is a project
by the portuguese architect Vi-
house of modern times. The
house design seaks for the mini-
mum with the dialogue of vari-
ous volumetric unities, one of
them is an old windmill, absor-
ved by the plastic and construc-
tiv composition of the project.
There is a clear influence of the
modern thinking in the house
spacial organization.
In 2013 the house re-opened
as a museum, after being recov-
ered. Now it is possible to visit it
by app oi nt me nt , c a l l i ng
(00351)253960100 or sending
an e-mail to museu.municipal@
cm-esposende.pt
Esposende city council and
University of Porto created the
Viana de Lima prize. Over 30
years, the 2000 euro prize will
be given to the two best Fine
Arts and Architecture students.
Antnio Faria
34 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 35

Rural Rural

Without agriculture, its raison d'tre, there is no rural world Numbers

Towards a new rural model? 32% Of GDP

Weight of the agricultural sector in the
Portuguese economy in the 1950s.

2%
PEDRO CLARKE

Traditionally, in a rural setting a house

was more than a home, it was part of a
way of life. A place to rest, sleep, and (oc-
casionally) receive guests, many of the
rural houses doubled up as workshops OF GDP
for artisans, small scale granaries, Weight of the agricultural sector in the
stores, animal pens, or as any other Portuguese economy in 2012.
function that might have been required.

7.75bn
As Elisabete Figueiredo once com-
mented, in imagine theres no rural,
the agricultural condition, the raison
dtre of the rural world now seems to
be lost. In this new globalised world,
where the food we eat is now often
shipped for over 10,000km (and some
of the food that is produced locally nev- Earmarked for the Rural
er makes it onto the market), this rai- Development Programme
son dtre has all but disappeared. of Continental Portugal for 2014-2020.
Portugal has seen a steady decline its This Proposal was submitted 5th of
rural-agricultural population, whilst in May 2014 for approval. Of this
1989 approximately 2 million people sum 3.58bn come from European
were engaged in the sector, today that FEADER funding.
population does not even add up to
800,000. The overall contribution of
what was once a key sector of our econ-
omy has also dropped substantially, source: Fernando Oliveira Baptista. A agricultura e a questo
da terra do Estado Novo Comunidade Europeia. 1994 / GPP
from 32% (in the 1950s) to a mere 2% of Programa de Desenvolvimento Rural 2014-2020. Documento

GDP. So what to do? what is the role of Orientao. Maio 2012 / GPP Programa de Desenvolvimento Rural
2014-2020. PDR 2020.
architecture in this scenario?
Parts of the country, and large parts Old Sacor Service Station, vora David Freitas 1950-1969 / Property: Arquivo Fotogrfico CME
of the Alentejo in particular, have
adapted to this new condition, delicatessen cheese and wine produc- cess down and who knows it might even This could be done in one of two ways,
montes a traditional type of house tion (Portugals products would hardly
from this part of Portugal have been find it hard to compete in those mar- If we don't help with attracting new dwellers from
elsewhere.
for those that find it hard to accept that
we live in an ever changing world, and
converted to holiday homes, stretches kets), but again would such a change
of landscape have been designated as benefit more than the wealthier (large-
know whether The artists studios being created,
provide nowhere near the numbers of
that will not accept that the traditional
model of the city will also need to
Protected Areas, destined to be left ly urban) middle classes , and their
empty (and unproductive) during large cravings for organic wine, stone
to preserve new homes needed, for existing or new
rural dwellers, but they are an example
change, new rural housing could be
seen as counter-balance to the city, (a
parts of the year, or maybe occupied by backed bread, and whatever other local or reform our of how housing and production can place of respite, to which one can es-
the occasional tourist from Northern luxuries they can now afford. once more be sewn back together. Un- cape following a hard day at the office,
Europe in search of those late October A real return to rural housing, needs environment, like in (larger) cities, in a rural (or qua- accessible by faster transport, telecom-
(or early April) rays of sun... If we have to go further than a superficial ap-
an ageing population, a deteriorating proach to what the countryside can of- does it make si rural) environment, space is less of a
problem (urban sprawl beware, this is
munications and enjoying a closer rela-
tionship to nature), or for those with a
any sense to
miguel marcelino
building stock, and a confused view as fer, it needs to go deeper than simply not what we are talking about) and live- more (modern) open mind, maybe they
to whether we should preserve or re- looking at what can be converted and lihoods can be planned in and around can start to look at it as a new kind of
form our environment, then does it reoccupied for leisure. New rural hous- still talk about a homestead. Like the great estates place, not quite urban, definitely not The architecture project is at the same time the structural rehabilitation project

Transformation plans
make any sense to still talk about rural ing needs to consider what is available, that once populated this part of the suburban, and yet not really rural any
housing? The countryside is empty, cit- what was there before, what are the
ies are full. Long live the city!? needs of the populations that are still
rural housing? country (of which the Barahona Palace
was part of), or even like the small hold-
more (lest we forget that without agri-
culture, its raison dtre, there is no
Despite this grim picture, trends to- there and what will be our future needs ings of family farming, a way of life can rural world), where there is still the
wards more sustainable and fair be, and architects are well placed to once more be constructed around the space for small (and large) businesses
trade practices could see this region play a key role in this. spect for the rural world, but as the re- structures that we have inherited. to rethink how they occupy the land
embark on a journey towards a new Admittedly without the creation of habilitation project of the Granary in With all this in mind, planners, archi- and structures that have been left be-
rural model, possibly not unlike what new jobs (in the agricultural sector?) vora is trying to do, the creation of tects, politicians and developers should hind and/or create new (hybrid) spaces
has happened in other parts of South- there will no reversal of rural exodus, new (cultural and other) infrastruc- probably start thinking about re-in- where a better work/life balance might
ern Europe, with boutique farms and architectural deterioration and disre- tures, can help with slowing this pro- vesting in housing in a rural setting. be possible.
miguel marcelino

Sowing the seeds for a change Miguel Marcelino

Progress so far...
Since the start of this process our two prong
approach, to discussing and dealing with the
new uses for the land and assisting with the
re-population of this territory (without activity,
jobs and people, there will be no housing). Key to
cultural associations interested in anything from
Alentejos cuisine, to poetry, to traditional song
(the Cantares) or to theatre.
Granary Cronology
This Granary Building, now an obso-
his work, but as usual it is money seems to be lete agricultural structure, is a cen- Late XIX Century 2010
the problem. The costs of such a project have Construction of the Barahona Palace Project for structural stabilization.
tenary building with serious struc-
and Granary buildings.
been estimated tural issues. Its exterior is relatively

100-
January 2014
unremarkable compared to the inte-

2-3
changes in the rural world and their implications achieving any of The Granary Revamp project, as previously at something in Middle XX Century Start of the new architecture project
on housing, has been driven by the desire to do this has been the explained, involves the creation of a new hybrid the region of 2 to rior, which a system of vaults and Granary building is taken over by the to rehabilitate the whole building.
arches make very expressive and spa- Public Company of Cereals (EPAC).
more than a simple superficial lick of paint type ongoing dialogue structure and space, creating a bond between 3million euros, a
tially rich. February 2014
of solution. We have tried to move towards a the city of vora, old and new. Existing uses, will be improved large sum for The proposal starts with the premise 1964 Meeting with local authorities and

200k
deeper understanding of the issues involved, and the district capital and new uses, for the building, will be created an already to change as little as possible the in- Repair works on the roof. resident cultural associations to
are looking for solutions that might help address Million euros of the region, artist/studio residences (housing in a one indebted region terior, only the bare minimum to al- define the brief.
the root causes of the problem abandoned Initial budget for Granary and following of its many new guises) which it is hoped following years low for the modernization and repro- 1981
fields, empty structures, loss of jobs, loss of revamp discussions will bring further development to this (now) of challenges gramming of the space as an artists Repair works to render, plastering, April 2014

identity and a need for new uses. We debated,
at long length, the meaning of these changes,
questioning ourselves about whether to focus
on small or large structures, buildings already
inhabited or uninhabited spaces, weve invited
local people to tell us there story and join this
debate, exploring a theme and trying to address
issues that go beyond housing, beyond the
Alentejo, beyond Portugal, and possibly even
beyond Europe.
In this process of ideas, options and solutions,
to be able to re-brand a once agricultural
landscape, the Alentejo, as a cultural landscape,
a fertile ground for the discussion of ideas,
production and new ways of going about doing
things in a post agro-rural world, appeared to us
as an interesting challenge, a way of securing
95%
with the district dormant quarter of town, and assist with the like many local residence and cultural cluster. whitewash and windows. Sketch design is completed
From the outside a profound inter-
councillors, transformation of it into a dynamic 24-hour authorities vora vention, that will also act as the 1997 6th June 2014
Funding needed
Miguel Marcelino inhabited hub. is saddled with a structural rehabilitation, is pro- Building is taken over by the Project is presented at the Venice
if a proposal for EU funding for
embarked on this project is accepted public debt that posed: all the faade is to be wrapped Municipality of vora. Biennale of Architecture
the design of So whats next? prevents it from in a new concrete envelope bonded to
Maximum Co-Financing
the project to The project has now been presented to the city being able to the existing walls, forming a new 1998 13th June 2014
of project through EU funding the councillors received it well, happy to see a composite structure. This is not a Building is occupied by cultural Project is presented at the Inter-
framework refurbish the invest as theyd like in a project like this one. organizations. Municipal Community (CIMAC)
modern scheme that respects the citys heritage new wall supporting the old one, nor
old agricultural Despite this, there might still be a solution, a conferences on culture and public
and it will be on display at the Traditional the other way around. The new con-
granary into a Cultural Granary. special frameworks set up by Europe, for co- crete shell will be pigmented and tex- 1998 space.
In fairness, this project is not trying to create (city/village) Ftes of S. Joo, held in late June, financing investments in indebted countries, may Report by the National Laboratory for
tured to have a rough finish and col-
something new or foreign to this context, exhibited side by side with photographs of the prove the way forwards. With an opportunities our, which creates a subtle dialogue Civil Engineering (LNEC) on structural 24th June 2014
past and present of the region, inviting people to issues. On-site exhibition and public
instead it is building on what was already there, for co-funding of the project up to 90-95%, the with the granite stonework of the his-
presentation of the project
coming up with a solution for a failing building, consider what the future might hold. local contribution could be as little as 100-200k toric center. Finally, this intervention
1999
and supporting a series of local groups and For any works to start, for the project to really euros, an investment that no longer seems like also finds a way to seal and protect next
Geotechnical scan and survey.
gain life, and for it to stand a chance of really the building, while creating a new im- Application for EU funding to allow
initiatives interested in maintaining the traditions such a daunting prospect. Can we then capitalise age that is neither a break with the
of the Alentejo alive the Granary has for some making a difference not much is need. The on this process, use the resources that are 2000 the project and construction to go
past nor uncritical continuity. Works to underpin foundations. ahead
years now been home to a diverse group of project is ready, the architect has done part of available, and materialize this project?
36 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 37

Rural Territory

033_Reabilitacao.pdf
Neither a break with the past In between
memory and
nor uncritical continuity creation

1
07/07/14
Turning a Wheat Granary into a a Cultural Granary: different uses and spaces for a centenary building
being brought into the 21st century

16:44
lated nowadays as eco-tech, fol-
MANUEL LACERDA LVARO DOMINGUES lowing the triumphant appear-
Visiting Professor at the Geographer, researcher and professor ance of environmental mystifi-
Department of Architecture of at the Faculty of Architecture,
Universidade Autnoma de Lisboa University of Porto cation); a succession of disasters
caused by the unexpected ef-
fects of transgenics and the ma-
nipulation of synthetic nature
We want the same kind of free- and, an overwhelming sense of
dom the city man enjoys; save us disenchantment over what Max
from the soot of the old fire- Weber understood to be the en-
place, a sign of our primitive chanted world of pre-modern
condition: our fire-seared faces, societies, now stuck inside a cy-
backs frozen from the houses bernetic cage of modern ration-
damp; we want radiators and we ality, with its narrow views of
will kill anyone who comes the technologic, scientific, capi-
around talking nonsense about talist world - in a word, a world
the love of the picturesque coun- stripped clean of magic.
tryside or babbling on poetically Anti-modern bitterness would

T
about our fireplaces of yore and bring all of this together in a vast
quiet afternoons by the hearth, wave of nostalgia for the return
he transition period in which without knowing the first thing to the (elysian) fields. The sea-

This is me, the goat

we live forces us to reconsid- about it! We want houses on pi- from a metaphysical vineyard; gravel pathways and plenty of side garden of Europe that Por-
er what is the best way the lotis. Yes! Because we have lived (low-growing) greenery . tugal was in the rhetoric of Es-
most effective, most ecologi- far too long with our feet stuck The houses were never finished; they transitioned directly to the tado Novo propaganda has un-
033_Reabilitacao.pdf

033_Plantas.pdf
cal, most economical and in the mud and the muck, far too This one over here in the foreground is me, the goat. The pasture state of vandalism. They are all dried up, reduced to bare concrete, derwent brutal changes and ac-
most intelligent way to en- long have we lived with packed is rubbish and I am pregnant. I know its not prudent at times no frames, no windows, no sanitary-ware and even the electrical celerations over the last 40 or 50
sure the survival of cities and dirt floors that afflict us with like these but such is life. He rammed me, the bastard. Life is a wiring was taken by the metal gang. years. Driven by famine and

033_Plantas.pdf
their heritage. Crises make rheumatism. Give us windows, sheepish business. Those nine sheep over there are as foolish as I The bank auctioned off the houses. They were all bought by a poor living conditions, peasants
us look differently at the available re- wide windows, so we can let the am; they talked me into buying one of those row houses because German musician who says that one painted white and the other emigrated; some have ended up
sources, leading to an evaluation ac- sun into our house. Take the the sheepfold was all mucky and when it rains you cant stand out black will make for a fine keyboard. It looks like our house is going returning, but nowadays Portu-
1

1
cording to renewed criteria. This is the muck away from our table. Give in the pasture because of the damp and rheumatoid arthritis. It all to be an F-sharp. There are plenty of other notes but the overall gal is a country of old folk and
07/07/14

case with the historical, consolidated us the means to be clean and started well enough. The houses were lovely, close to the pasture tone is pretty somber. depopulation is advancing at a

11/07/14
areas of cities, making way for new healthy like city folk and with views out into the countryside. The landscape project for http://www.revistapunkto.com/2014/05/english- fast pace.
outlooks on design processes. Given Very much in the style of Le the external spaces is top-notch: dry stone walls, re-used props homelessness-and-nostalgia-for.html The marks and memories of
16:44

1
that our time has accelerated, and that Corbusiers utopian modernism, that Rural Portugal are gradu-

23/06/14

11:41
the phenomenon of globalization to- here is the hygienic, rational, ally falling apart with derurali-
gether with new technologies has ren-
dered obsolete many of the concepts
modern solution to end old agri-
culture; a solution on pilotis, of
Enquiring after the use and addressees of the nostalgic discourse about land, biological zation and the collateral effects
left in its wake: depopulation,
we had until recently held as stable course, inverting and radicalis- agriculture, the new rurals, rural tourism and other ruralities ageing population, fields and ag-

15:28
The rural was green; a goat
and valid, many certainties have gone ing the very condition of the ricultural production being in-
up in smoke and transformed them- farmer as someone who tends creasingly abandoned, the dis-
selves into opportunities to explore the land with his hands and his appearance of certain ways of
the challenges we are currently facing. feet deep in it. There is nothing life, know-how and cultural
Culture, economy and the idea of hu- left of the meaningful poetry of practices the interior, as these

came and ate it

man development for the 21st century the peasants primitive condi- things are usually referred to.
have inevitably become the interde- tion in this account: nor of the The few that endure live off an
pendent ingredients of this task. The farmer as a good savage (after assisted economy of pensions,
number of references expands, reach- Rousseau); nor of the mythical retirement pensions, savings or
ing the most distant places, as stereo- country folk who Jules Michelet, money sent by family members
typed images travel the globalized, some decades after Rousseau, and those who can leave, as jobs
networked world. A reality sediment- would celebrate as a near-super- are scarce and the mirage of a
ed throughout hundreds of years can natural entity, untouched by the bucolic existence and lost para-
now be updated and modified in its coarseness or deprivation of dises belong to outsiders who
symbolic value in a very short period their humble material condi- think nature and the rural are
of time. The consolidated city is affect- tion; nor of the German roman- places for holidays and tourism.
ed by this uneven pace that is as inevi- ticism of J.G. Herder who There is no way of finding a fu-
table as it is urgent. Urban identities praised the simplicity, generos- ture for the mythified past of a
can only be looked at in a fleeting man- ity and truth of the volkgeist as country of poor but honest farm-
ner, as opposed to a stereotyped vision the essential quality of a people ers. Their gardeners lost, the ru-
that reduces them to a collection of and genuine cultural reference, ral landscapes of old Portugal
more or less well-preserved typolo- as opposed to the learned, re- entered a cycle of profound met-
gies; the urban reality is far more com- fined, overwrought and artifi- amorphosis where most people
plex than it appears to be. Further- cial cultural model inherited can only see deterioration and
more, if the nature of architecture and from French Illuminism. ugliness. Not even (hyper)mod-
of the city is a transformative one, ur- Corbusiers whole discourse ernized landscapes of intensive
033_Cortes.pdf

ban identities are likewise in perma- sits in stark opposition to the farming escape this disenchant-
nent mutation. It is at this improbable idea of discovering the people ment: they are dull, aseptic, syn-
intersection, between change and per- thetic-looking and, it is suspect-
manence, that we are able to differen-
tiate between places, always framed
Rather, let Herd in the city lvaro domingues
ed, poisoned; in addition to that,
they generate very little and
by new mind-sets and values that us enquire very poorly paid employment.
1

change with each generation. In the There are cases of individuals

after the
11/07/14

paced process of recycling sites and being recruited in Thailand to

cities there is a slow, gradual regener- work here for less than 500 Eu-
ation, an occupation of interstitial use and ros a month.
spaces, the creation of new connec- Given the flurry of sound bites
addressees
11:40

tions, processes of repair and reuse, and verbal excess this subject in-
and new solutions for mobility. This
continuous regeneration contributes of the nostalgic vites, it doesnt matter so much
to ask what rurality, post-rural-
to the preservation of both structures
and identities. Urban recycling be-
discourse ity or other fictions, are. Rather,
let us enquire after the use and
comes the most coherent form of op-
erating given the desire to maintain
about addressees of the nostalgic dis-
course about land, biological ag-
and strengthen the spirit of places; of ruralities riculture (is there any that isnt,
opening up the opportunity for the with the exception of Facebooks
creation of new environments that electronic FarmVille?), the new
translate other ways of inhabiting and associated with the ideological "We want houses on pilotis because we have lived far too long with our feet stuck in the mud and the muck" lvaro domingues rurals, rural tourism and other
appropriating spaces, with projects construction of nationalisms ruralities.
that respond to current needs, with and growingly exacerbated na- In the beginning, agricultural
new types of programmes and new tionalist identities during the cosmopolitan cultures and clos- demonstrate the association be- Breaking with this type of fic- sary to polish this rustic rough- production was meant to feed
mind-sets. The contemporary ap- 19th century, the so called er to the ancient traditions of tween geographic identity tional and factual construction ness, to recycle the peasant into people; afterwards, bread and
proach should bring to light all the primitivism ( seen as the their social groups of belonging (pays), socio-cultural condition of rurality, modernity con- a condition of businessman- wine, milk and honey also be-
knowledge which is relevant to solving closeness to nature and scarce and respective territories). (paysan) and territory of belong- structs its own utopia of the fu- agronomist, mechanized and came the food of the gods. Now
current problems, insofar as they contact with scholarly educa- Genius loci expresses this ing (paysage). Peasants would be ture, free from the past and marketed. everything is a market and in
prove useful to nourish an urban and tion and knowledge), with com- mystic collision and confluence the gardeners of the landscape, founded in the new spirit of re- Meanwhile, mass methods re- Brazilian Portuguese, agricul-
architectural design that takes into munitarism (as collective, of land, language, tradition, in the words of Alain Roger to lentless progress. sulting from modernized farm- ture is called agro-business and
consideration the rights and well-being shared creation, not centred on identity, spontaneity, authentic- talk about the artialization of Naturally, the peasant stood ing universality, rationality, produces green energy. So much
of individuals and the community, both the individual, as in high culture ity, the root,. the soul of a peo- landscape, its aesthetisation as a figure of the past, of coarse- homologation - would at the rhetoric!
in the present time and for the future. circles) and purism (a trait of ple, in short, peasants. In and manipulation as a devise for ness and of the obscure, of the same time cause diverse and Also the rural was once
peasants who, immerse in na- French, the meaning of words engendering mythologies about magical world of the natural contradictory reasonings: a new green: then along came a goat
ture, were less influenced by such as pays, paysan, paysage, farming land and peasants. and supernatural. It was neces- mythology of clean-tech (formu- and ate it!
38 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014 Homeland, August 2014 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL 39

Theater & Cinema Travel

On the topic of
what was in fact false (the set) at
a time when, due to force of hab-
it by Artistas Unidos, the genu-
homeland
News from Portugal , August 2014
ine (the building) was taken for

theatre in Portugal:
false (the set). All of this per-
tains to sets something for
which the realist convention de-
COMMISSIONING BODIES
Secretary of State for Culture
Jorge Barreto Xavier
Director-General for the Arts

3 examples of
termines that false (the set)
should be taken for genuine!
For many years, Mnica Calle
Samuel Rego
The Directorate-General for the Arts
Mnica Guerreiro, Mnica Antunes
Mnica Oliveira, Costanza Ronchetti

scenography
Margarida Silva, Susana Neves
had her Casa Conveniente in a
former club in Cais do Sodr a Curator
bohemian area in Lisbon. Re- Pedro Campos Costa

sponsible not only for the shows COLOPHON

jos capela
Over the last 30 years, Portu-
guese architecture has known
many leading figures whose rec-
ognition also extends interna-
tionally. It is said that this phe-
nomenon is associated with the
materialization of a specifically
Portuguese architectural iden-
tity. The quality of each archi-
tects work intensifies the collec-
tive phenomenon and the recog-
nition of the collectives quality
creates a framework for the rec-
ognition of each individual. I am
not going to discuss here how
that identity is defined nor the
concept of identity itself. In-
stead, I'm interested in noting
that, at the basis of this phenom-
enon lies a Portuguese cultur-
al and architectural context
where authorship is aspired to
and appreciated. This seems to
me like a good starting point to
address Portuguese theatre.
In Portugal, the so-called in-
dependent theatre has an unu-
sual quantitative relevance (be-
yond the qualitative one). Al-
though there is some theatre for
the masses, produced for com-
mercial and recreational pur-
poses and whose popularity is
tre companies than in the work
of Portuguese architects. Archi-
tecture gravitates around rela-
tively univocal references. The
fabric of theatre is far more plu-
ral. Contrasts between genera-
tions are more plainly visible.
Artistic families are more con-
trasting. The audience is of-
fered theatrical events with
very diverse atmospheres. But
most of all, there is a common
ambition of elevating these
events to the status of authorial
works or, possibly, art works.
I have worked as a scenogra-
pher for 10 years, mostly in the
company I am part of - mala
voadora but here I would like
to talk about my favourite ex-
amples of Portuguese scenogra-
phy, with the clear advantage of
not having to speak about my
own work (synthesized in the
images). Among the very many
cases I could take into consid-
eration, I will refer three: the
work of Rita Lopes Alves at A
Capital, the work of Mnica
Calle at Casa Conveniente and
Teatro Praga.
Rita Lopes Alves is the scenog-
rapher for Artistas Unidos, the
company directed by Jorge Silva
Melo. During the time this com-
pany occupied the former head-
quarters of A Capital newspaper,
direction but also for its scenog-
raphy and lighting, Calle has in-
vented a nocturnal scenic atmos-
phere. Oblivious to aggrandiz-
ing resources that are depend-
ent on large infra-structural
means, Calle has grown accus-
tomed to using light or the ab-
Scenery of HAMLET by Jos Capela (mala voadora, Jorge Andrade direction, sence of light as a delicate mat-
text by William Shakespeare, So Luiz, 2014) Jos Carlos duarte ter: lighting just narrow sections
of the shows in an overall dark
atmosphere, a little like the
paintings of Rembrandt. In addi-
tion to using simple household
light bulbs, Calle covers the
bulbs in cinefoil, thus limiting
the emission of light in both di-
rection and intensity. Calle takes
these atmospheres with her
when she occupies conventional
performance venues, adapting
the resources at her disposal as
well as this very lyricism.
A few years ago, Teatro Pra-
gra defined their work as a cross
between philosophy and MTV.
More than sets, their acting
spaces are images inside which
the performances take place -
like in a studio video-clip. And,
just like in a video-clip, they
have a graphic seduction pow-
er: shapes clearly outlined
against a smooth background
(the white box is a recurring fea-
ture); strong or luminous col-
Scenery of CASA & JARDIM HOUSE & GARDEN by Jos Capela (mala voadora, ours in vibrant contrasts; coex-
Jorge Andrade direction, text by Chris Thorpe, CCB, 2012) Jos Carlos duarte isting elements that keep their
Editorial Director:
Alessia Allegri
Authors:
Adoc, Andr Tavares, architect editor
Artria, Ateliermob, architect editor
Like Architects, Mariana Pestana, architect
editor, Miguel Eufrsia, architect editor,
Miguel Marcelino, Paulo Moreira, Pedro Clarke,
architect editor, Sami Arquitectos
Susana Ventura, architect editor
Contributors
lvaro Domingues, Gonalo Loureno,
Herbert Wright, Joo Baa, Joo Lus Ferreira,
Jos Aguiar, Jos Capela, Jos Manuel,
Fernandes, Manuel Lacerda, Miguel Reimo
Costa, Pedro Bandeira Pedro Costa, Sofia
Mourato, Vitor Ribeiro
Copy-editors
Antnio Faria, Carolina Sumares, Joana Coutinho,
Joana Oliveira, Joo Simes, Marta Onofre, Pedro
Silva, Pedro Vicente, Sara Neves, Zara Ferreira
Translation
Rute Paredes
Revision-Edition
Pedro Clarke
Graphic Design
Silvadesigners
Illustration
Ana Arago, Armanda Vilar, Vasco Mouro
3D Visualization
Vrtual
Legal Support
Tiago Piscarreta
Photographers
Ana Janeiro, Andr Pais, Catarina Ribeiro,
Denis DTA, Fernando Guerra, Hazul, Jos Carlos
Duarte, Paulo Catrica, Rui Morais de Sousa,
Rui Pinheiro, Valter Vinagre
Back cover
Friendly Fire
PRODUCTION
Lisbon Architecture Triennale
President
Jos Mateus
Deputy director
Manuel Henriques The Casa Adropeixe by Carlos Castanheira is 60m above a lake FG + SG Fotografia de Arquitectura
Production
Isabel Antunes, head, Liliana Lino,

strongly stems from the pres-
ence of television actors, most
theatre made in Portugal is au-
thorial theatre.
It is harder to identify a com-
mon denominator in the work
produced by Portuguese thea-
the elements the building was
made of were used as scenograph-
ic matter, like in a readymade.
They could be: just used (a door is
a door), fictionalized (the small
door of a broom-closet under the
stairs becomes a bar cabinet) or
transformed (leftover cork ag-
glomerate wall coverings are
painted blue to resemble a map).
After a while and with every
new staging, chances that the
audience will not recognize the
space are slim to none. To main-
tain unpredictability, new spac-
es were built with the appear-
ance of having been found just
like that. The audience accept-
ed as genuine (the building)
House Rules
autonomy while creating, in re- Ins Marques, Veronica Bastai
Fundraising and Partnerships
Portugal's house architecture is unique. London-based writer Herbert Wright travels in the north to see why
lation to each other, the hetero- Sara Battesti
clite effect of a collage; verbal el- Management Assistant
ements (the letterification inau- Helena Soares
Communication and Press
gurated by Piscator and Brecht). Maria Schiappa
Nothing in Portuguese theatre Local Communication
was ever this glossy. and Production Support
Studioquotazero: Daniele Vicentini and
Paolo Franzo
Board

Arquiteturas Film Festival

An international film festival exclusively dedicated to screening experimental, fiction
and documentary films about architecture, presenting a moving image perspective
on Portuguese and international architectural projects will be held from 24th
to 28th of September in Lisbon, Cinema City Alvalade, Cinemateca Portuguesa.
The Wounded Brick
Sue-Alice Okukubo e Eduard
Zorzenoni, Italy/Germany
(2013) 86
A cinematic documentary
essay on the visions, hopes
and failures while search-
ing for humane housing in
the face of economic and
political interest. Film-
makers Sue-Alice Okuku-
bo and Eduard Zorzenoni
encounter architects, ur-
ban planners, sociologists
and victims of the 2009
earthquake in Abruzzo, It-
aly. Interviews that merge
associatively into a poetic
reflection on: Who owns
the city?What does hous-
ing mean?
Screened at Arquiteturas
Film Festival 2013
thewoundedbrickfilm.com
Away from
All Suns
Isa Willinger, Germany,
(2013) 77
In the back alleys of Mos-
cow, forgotten treasures
lurk: Utopian Constructiv-
ist buildings from the
1920s. Ruins of another fu-
ture, filled with revolution
and hope. The film follows
three Muscovites who are
struggling with the build-
ings heritage. A dialogue
between past and present
unfolds. Manifestos by
Rodchenko, Lissitzky and
Vesnin, and documentary
footage from early Soviet
film, among others by Dzi-
ga Vertov, evoke the vision
of modernity. A journey
through time to the revolu-
tionary 1920s and back to
Russia today.
Screening at Arquiteturas
Film Festival 2014
awayfromallsuns.de
Microtopia
Jesper Wachtmeister,
Denmark (2013) 52
How would you feel about
carrying your home in
your pocket or having
clothes to live in? For most
of us, house means sta-
bility, structure, and per-
manence. In an age of in-
creasing population and
technological gains, to-
days mobile society has
resulted in a demand, or
perhaps a dream, for port-
able dwellings and dwell-
ings in new settings and
situations.Microtopia ex-
plores how architects, art-
ists and ordinary problem-
solvers are pushing the
limits to find answers to
their dreams of portabili-
ty, flexibility and of cre-
ating independence from
the grid.
Screening at Arquiteturas
Film Festival 2014
solarisfilm.se /portfolio/
microtopia/
Following the Portuguese theme of housing for this years biennial, the director of
the Arquiteturas Film Festival, Sofia Mourato gives out her six best films on housing,
some screened in the festival last year and others expected for this years edition.
Follow the festival in www.arquiteturasfilmfestival.com.
Drop city
Joan Grossman, USA
(2012) 82'
Drop Citys dazzling struc-
tures were based on Buck-
minster Fullers geodesic
domes and the crystalline
designs of Steve Baer, a pi-
oneer in geometric struc-
ture and solar energy. Low
cost domes, made from
salvaged materials culled
lumber, bottle caps and
chopped-out car tops, be-
came a lab for experimen-
tal building, attracting in-
ternational attention and
inspiring a generation of
alternative communities.
But the flood of attention
led to overcrowding, and
the community was even-
tually abandoned to tran-
sients. By 1973, Drop City
had become the worlds
first geodesic ghost town.
Screened at Arquiteturas
Film Festival 2013
dropcitydoc.com
7thart.com
Men Made Place
Yu Shen Su, Taiwan/Germany
(2012) 53
The experimental docu-
mentary Man Made Place
shows through impressive
images how two certain
cities and the relation of asmall film crew spent five
inhabitants to these cities
are developing in China
in times of urban growth.
Yumen a derelict ghost
town and Kangbashi a bul. This is their story.
mythic city of the future,
both are deserted. They
exist because of complete-
ly different reasons.
Screened at Arquiteturas
Film Festival 2013
Agoraphobia
Imre Azem, Turkey/The
Netherlands (2013) 53
In October 2012, following
extensive research, an in-
ternational team of archi-
tects, urban planners and
days in Turkey, studying
the urban transformation
process in three cities:
Ankara, Bursa and Istan-
Screening at Arquiteturas
Film Festival 2014
vimeo.com/69409703
Jos Mateus, Chairman, Nuno Sampaio,
Vice-chairman, Jos Manuel dos Santos, Member
Maria Dalila Rodrigues, Member,
Pedro Arajo e S, Member
INSTITUCIONAL PARTNERSHIPS Herbert wright
Municipality of vora, Municipality of Lisboa
Municipality of Loures, Municipality
of Matosinhos, Municipality of Porto,
Municipality of Setbal There's certainly more to the Portu-
guese house than the clich of the white
Acknowledgments
Pedro Campos Costa and the Lisbon volume shining in an arid landscape. I
Architecture Triennale would like to extend went to see for myself, firstly in Portu-
a special thanks to all the organizations and gal's north.
people who have contributed to this project:
Ana Ribeiro da Silva, lvaro Siza Vieira,
In Esposende, birthplace of CIAM vet-
Benjamin Pereira, Bernardo Tvora, eran Viana de Lima, his Casa das
Carlos Castanheira, Diogo Lino Pimentel, Eduardo Marinhas is a very modernist composi-
Souto de Moura, Fernando Bagulho, Gonalo Byrne,
Jos Gigante, Manuel Aires Mateus, Miguel Judas,
tion: stone walls sandwich a two-storey
Paulo Guerreiro, Pedro Carvalho, Sara Anahory, facade containing rectangles of colour,
Sara Eloy, Srgio Fernandez, Arquivo Fotogrfico and a single steel column rises to a flat
de vora, Elsa Machado e Carlos Pinto, Cmara roof slab. Colours and lines feel like Ger-
Municipal de Esposende, Catarina Ribeiro, Casa da
Arquitectura, Cristina Abreu e Manuel Jos Simas, rit Rietveld. The double-height living
Centro de Documentao 25 de Abril, Antnio Reis, room is flooded with light but extends ox-blood red as that favoured by Fernan-
Benjamim Pereira, Ribeiro da Silva, FG+SG under an open landing. Functional
Fotografia de Arquitectura, Fundao Calouste
Gulbenkian, Fundao Instituto Marques da Silva,
wooden partitioning and storage has ap-
Hazul, Paulo Cunha e Silva, Sandra Figueira e Rui ertures to display art. In a connected
Oliveira, Vitrio Leite round tower, a wavy curtain rail closes
The partners, sponsors and supporters of
off a bedroom space by the top of the
stair. This 1956 house is now a museum.
this project and the contributors to this
editorial project A paper clipping about Frank Lloyd
Wright and Vida Sovietica magazines
show de Lima's sentiments- not those of
the right-wing Estado Novo regime
which favoured constructivist-monu-
mentalism. Houses were not govern-
ment commissions, so they allowed another box of wood, enclosing bed-
modernism to be aired.
The modernism here is more like pre-
war modern art, far more playful than
the minimalism of Mies or Johnson. At
Porto's School of Fine Arts, where Viana
de Lima studied in the 1920s, architec-
ture and art were unseparated right up
PARTNER: to 1979. That helped shape the extraor-
dinary 'Porto School' movement, and its
two Pritzker winners.
The first is living legend lvaro Siza,
PRINTing SUPPORT:
and in Moledo, we saw an extended bun-
galow by him, the Casa Alves Costa.
From the street, it looks like just a wall.
In contrast to de Lima's masterpiece,
sponsors:
this turns inward, embracing a shady
garden of pine trees in three angled sec-
tions with pitched roofs. Modernist
roofs don't always need to be flat! Inside,
it's all about refuge and feeling enclosed
in the angles. When finished in 1968, it
was so different that, according to local
architect Srgio Fernandez, the munic-
ipality didn't classify it as a house! Not
all is angles... Siza's wardrobes look art
deco with their rounded corners.
The single-plane roof on Fernandez'
own house, built 1971-74 in woodland
high above Caminha, is pitched as steep
as the slope it's situated on. The
Vill'Alcina is more of a long alpine chalet
than a villa. Bedrooms like alcoves come
off an axis running perpendicular to the
slope of roof and hill. The kitchen/dining
area is like a terrace overlooking the liv-
ing room area. A little patio outside has
red window shutters, perhaps the same
do Tvora, the Porto School giant who
bridged modernism with local tradition.
Fernandez recalls attending a meeting
of Team 10 with Tvora in the late 1950s.
Tvora taught Siza, who mentored Ed-
uardo Souto de Moura, Portugal's other
Pritzker winner and designer of the
Casa em Moledo (1988), another hillside
retreat. This is a simple, beautiful mas-
terpiece. Concrete walls clad with stone
define a rectangular volume, its long
sides full-height glass. Within this box is
rooms. Along the corridor, glass faces
the rock face rising behind. Light filters
tranquilly onto plants in the gap. The
juxtaposition of different materials and
the Miesian rectilinearity are very Sou-
to de Moura, but the house also feels like
an update on Frank Lloyd Wright's Prai-
rie School architecture, in its integra-
tion with nature, its flat, low space and
stone walls, one of them dividing living
room and kitchen. Carry Grant directed
by Hitchcock could be standing by the
fireplace!
In Ofir, a beach zone in Esposende, is
a sad Tvora house. In an overgrown
garden, a faded yellow rectangle mount-
ed on a grimy white marks a chimney.
Behind an oxblood-red internal wall,
fire has burnt out a great room, but be-
yond, beneath a traditional terracotta
roof, the house still lives. Rooms are
painted in faded colours, and wooden
fixtures speak of a clean-lined moder-
nity. Outside, tiny coloured mosaic tiles
are embedded in a concrete fountain,
now brown with old rain water. En-
graved in a concrete beam is the once-
bright house's date: 1956. Typically ver-
nacular, Tvora incorporated local
stone and natural paints.
In the hills above Guimares, Jos Gi-
gante's Stone House is very contempo-
rary. Twelve full-height apertures over
two storeys are punched into a stone fa-
cade sitting on a stone apron patio where
grain was once crushed. With all its Af-
zelia hardwood shutters shut, the house
looks blind, but the screens are actually
louvers with adjustable slits. With the
screens open, the facade becomes trans-
parent and the stone as thin as a grid of
steel. Upstairs are bedrooms, down-
stairs an open living room/kitchen. The
The Stone House by Jos Gigante recycles stone from a granary catarina ribeiro other three facades are solid stone. The
blue/grey granite was recovered from a
granary that was there. This has the sol-
id, plain geometry of Loos, and like the
Souto de Moura house, simplicity and
texture have stunning effect.
Finally, high in the damp, spectacular
pined mountains of the Gers National
Park, is the 190m2 Casa Adpropeixe by
Carlos Castanheira (2008). It is simulta-
neously part of the landscape, and iso-
lated from it, raised several metres
above an ex-tennis court. Under a metal
roof, it is clad in copper to age with time.
This rectilinear floating house is also
about wood-treated Nordic pine that
will become silvery with time. It was
made modularly by north Portuguese
carpenters and assembled on site. A gen-
erous boardwalk terrace overlooks a
lake 60m below.
Modernism drifted into a location-
free bland uniformity, but in Portugal,
creativity thrived in the individuality of
the house typology. It adapted to local
conditions and traditions, using local
The Casa das Marinhas by Viana de Lima is a masterful composition of modernist skills- just as Tvora wanted six decades
elements. catarina ribeiro ago. Portuguese houses still rule.
40 NEWS FROM PORTUGAL Homeland, August 2014

This is the
CURATOR Contributors Copy-editors
Pedro Campos Costa lvaro Domingues Antnio Faria
Gonalo Loureno Carolina Sumares
Editorial Director Herbert Wright Joana Coutinho
Alessia Allegri Joo Baa Joana Oliveira

Portuguese
joo Lus Ferreira Joo Simes
Authors Jos Aguiar Marta Onofre
Adoc Jos capela Pedro Silva
Andr Tavares Jos Manuel Fernandes Pedro Vicente
Artria Manuel Lacerda Sara Neves
Ateliermob Pedro Bandeira Zara Ferreira
Like Architects Pedro Costa
Mariana Pestana Sofia Mourato Graphic Design

Pavilion
Miguel Eufrsia Silvadesigners
Miguel Marcelino
Paulo Moreira
Pedro Clarke
SAMI Arquitectos
Susana Ventura

Friendly fire
A transformation grammar-based
www.friendlyfire.info
A research by Sara Eloy
at last
methodology for housing rehabilitation
fanzinefriendlyfire@gmail.com Just a Change
To bring back the live
Glorious Bastards conditions houses

S
ome of the most important con-
tributions that Portugal has
made to the world came in the
form of glorious bastards.
From as early on as the Age of
Discovery, if not before: while
the Spaniards fucked the con-
text, we fucked with it; whilst they
showed they had cojones, we showed
what the cojones were for. Rio de Janei-
ro and the mulata are consequences of
that promiscuous incursion.
Similarly, most of Portugals built en-
vironment is the consequence of a truly
international gang-bang: from the
buildings banged up by those returning
from Brazil in the 19th century, to oth-
ers from the Portuguese who post-war
emigrated to Northern Europe, on to
the trafficking of urban architectures
to the countryside, the result is an ex-
otic continuous city, permeated by one
of the worlds greatest per capita net-
work of L.A. style asphalted curves.
Interestingly enough, the interna-
tional focus on our contemporary
architecture started with the recogni-
The future of the real estate market in
Portugal will require the rehabilita-
tion of existing residential areas in or-
der to respond to new life-styles and
dwelling requirements that have
emerged in an era in which informa-
tion and technology plays a structur-
ing role in society.Starting from these
premises Sara Eloy suggests a rehabil-
itation methodology that uses shape
grammar and space syntax as tools to
identify and encode the principles and
rules behind the adaptation of existing
houses to new requirements. The use
of these tools enable the definition of
a methodology for transforming dwell-
ings based on specific conditions with
the ability to impose a very precise and
systematic form of intervention. This
methodology is called a transforma-
tion grammar based-methodology
since it enables shape transformation
to be managed within dwellings by cre-
ating a process that can encompass all
the valid transformation rules for a
given dwelling and a specific family.
In addition to defining a general
methodology applicable to all the
building types, the study focuses on
a specific type, called rabo-de-ba-
Rehabilitation methodology
Floor plan and graph of the original dwelling (on the left), rehabilitated dwellings
according to 1st strategy (two on the right) and to 2nd strategy (two on the middle)
calhau (cod-tail), built in Lisbon
between 1945 and 1965 for which a
specific methodology has been gen-
erated.
Just a Change is a volunteer association
that rehabilitates damaged homes of
families who cannot afford it. It has
about 140 volunteers; all of them col-
lege students from different fields,
none of them with more than 25 years.
Through an ongoing work, organized
by shifts, they renovate two houses for
month. They first get in touch with the
parish councils about the homes and
families most deprived. After checking
conditions and urgency priorities, they
take technical advice from civil engi-
neering and architecture experts and
get down to business.
Started from a simply willingness of
helping people, they have tried various
routes until reach the rehabilitation
idea: we realized there were a large
number of solidarity associations, but
no one for home treatment. They be-
gan with street performances to raise
money but, after three years, they have
such recognition that a solid network
of sponsors and incentives underlie
their goals.
http://www.justachange.pt/
" In situ"

www.homeland.pt A new edition

tion of lvaro Sizas architectural bas- Portuguese Official Representation at the 14th International Architecture
tardness, highlighting his impregna- Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 7 June to 23 November 2014
tion of Modernism in a Portuguese-do- The In Situ project, organized by CE-
it-better way. ACT/UAL (Study Centre for Architec-

Newspaper distribution point

However, the much praised and inter- ture, City and Territory of University
nationally acclaimed Portoguese Autnoma of Lisbon) in collaboration
Architecture that followed, seems to have with the FAB LAB of the ISCTE, Uni-
gone astray from this ancestral bastard- versity Institute of Lisbon, is an archi-
izing vocation. For three generations a tecture laboratory and construction
sort of eugenic process has developed in that aims to combine research and in-
which Discrete is the new visibility. tervention. Creating a direct relation-
Nevertheless, theres News from ship between the constructed reality
Portugal: the current unprecedented and an academic study, it is intended to
diaspora of Portuguese architects is research and intervene in areas of
comparable to the movement that took spontaneous genesis with the ambition
place 5 centuries ago, crossing seas, to act on concrete realities and based
families, typologies and urban models. on the place, the people and their social
The return of the glorious bastards is dynamics. The ultimate goal of the lab-
now latent everywhere! oratory is to build, using CAD /CAM
Pirates with Le Corbusier glasses see tools, the elements that may be identi-
further than the eye can reach. fied as the neighbourhoods needs.
In a recent interview, Koolhaas gave The laboratory in 2013 was held in
the example of the history of the bal- the neighbourhood of Torro 2 in Tra-
cony as an architectural element and faria, close to Lisbon.
how it wouldnt be complete without It is now happening the next edition that
examining how theyve been used by take place this month in the same area.
dictators. The most relevant Portu- www.facebook.com/pages/
guese contribution to this history In-Situ-Laborat%C3%B3rio-de-
would be the marquise. The marquise Interven%C3%A7%C3%A3o-em-Ar-
is a spatial bastard born from a fling be- quitetura-2013/564033943648113
tween a balcony, and some aluminum
profiles and glazing that allows it to be-

Weather
come enclosed, thus adding extra space
to an apartment. Its a common and
mostly illegal practice for everyone in
Portugal, raising it to an archetypical

30 0
status. The term itself is a bastardiza-
tion of a French word (for a noble title)
that only in Portuguese has this partic-
ular meaning. The marquise (or the
marquisement) can be considered an
empowerment act, a built reminder
that, in democracy, the average Joe can
aspire to be the President or a Marquis.
Recently, lvaro Siza concluded the
second phase of Boua, a social housing
complex whose first phase was built
back in the 70s. Acknowledging how
the original dwellers had turned their
original balconies into pimp-my-ride
marquises, Siza included the bastardi-
zation of those spaces in his own pro-
ject, building the second phase with
marquises from the very start.
Still bastards, after all these years?
Yes we can.
Libert, galit, fraternit, marquise!
Ivo Poas Martins and Pedro Barata

Next issue: Wrapping up an ongoing process

Friendly Fire is an independent architecture collective interested
in subversive and humorous narratives and practices. Its aim is to
address the architectural culture and its effects on everyday life in Clear blue sky Plenty of sunshine.
an alternative and informal perspective. Friendly Fire is Alexandra Moderate winds mostly persist and coastal breezes.
Areia, Gonalo Azevedo, Ivo Poas Martins, Matilde Seabra, Pedro
Baa and Pedro Barata.
Moderately high waves of greater length. Low
humidity levels.