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Architects: E85, SANTOSCREATIVOS
- Year: 2012
Text description provided by the architects. To rehabilitate a neighborhood that is in a deteriorated condition is the starting point of this project. This neighborhood consists of 3 blocks of buildings that were built in three distinct stages. Each building contains a courtyard that is not shared. Although they part of the same premises, the existing buildings are isolated, with drastically different materials and construction systems, and a lack of common space to articulate the housing complex.
Looking to revive this neighborhood, we rethink the existing program, giving vitality to the interior and exterior spaces of the buildings. The complex goes from being merely housing, to become design offices, apartments, suites, photo studio, multipurpose rooms, recreational courtyards and outdoor work spaces.
We propose to synthesize the existing volumes to enhance open spaces, ensuring conductive atmospheres for dialogue and exchange of ideas. We reveal the base materials of the old buildings, giving the space colors and textures that only the passage of time has granted, looking to homogenize the whole.
The intervention is planned in two stages: the first stage includes the total reconstruction of exterior spaces, the rehabilitation of the rear building (on the west end), and the construction of the photo studio on top of it. The second stage includes the design of interior spaces (except for the rear building), as well as future connections between such spaces.
The photo studio (multipurpose gallery) located at the west end of the neighborhood, serves as anchor program for the complex. The main requirement of this module is to create a space where natural light is the main design element. On this premise, we created a concrete elliptical vault with a central diffuser that introduces great natural light into the space, enhancing the work of the photographer.
