2013-2015 - Ana Vaz Milheiro (IR)
 

Homes for the biggest number: Lisbon, Luanda, Macao
Research funded by Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)

PTDC/ATP-AQI/3707/2012

 

 

The research aims to survey, catalogue and contextualize housing projects in Lisbon (arch. Fernando Silva, Portela Neighbourhood, 1965-79), Luanda (arch. Simões de Carvalho, Prenda Neighbourhood Unit no 1, 1961-63) and Macao (arch. Manuel Vicente, complex promoted by STDM - Society of Macao Tourism and Recreation, 1978-84) built between the 1960s and the 1980s, which stood out for large-scale, large area occupation and high number of people housed.

Designed by Portuguese architects in different historical and territorial contexts, these projects had common concerns regarding the consolidation of the peripheral city, facing a strong urban growth. It is intended to identify the existing housing and urban models and to map the changes after 40 years of use in order to understand how to adapt to current conditions (urban and social) and to support its future.

For this research, initially, it will be surveyed all the material within the architects and the local authorities. Then it will begin the detailed description and historical process, creating records of inventory, referenced to the Geographic Information System, and the redrawing of projects (for comparative analyses of the urban design and of the housing cell unit). It follows a visit to the complexes to verify its conservation state, experiencing the urban situation and describing the profile evolution of current populations.

The visits will be recorded on video for "future memory" and a documentary (three 30 minutes short-films) will be produced. In the last year, workshops will be implemented with the communities, involving architects, students, residents and local institutions, proposing architectural interventions based on historical and social analysis and in the Portuguese tradition of participatory architecture.