Competition - Torrado da Silva Avenue Housing, Almada

​The proposal presented was developed based on the idea that Housing at Controlled Costs can combine architectural quality with social needs. The character of the type of housing intended, which is believed to be attractive and aggregating, was decisive in the logic of the project. As such, the project's various spaces were designed considering the needs of contemporary ways of living.
As defined in the subdivision project, the proposal consists of three independent lots. Lot 1 has 5 buildings, while lots 2 and 3 have 3 buildings each. Volumetrically, they are simple elements, with a visor that extends towards the external area of public use, marking and dignifying (through shelter from the weather) both the entrances to the houses and to the businesses on the ground floor. The buildings have variable floor numbers, from five to eight floors above the level of Avenida Torrado da Silva, with an additional three floors of parking under the same level (two of these function as half-basement and one as underground).
The elevations are characterized by the rhythm of their openings and balconies, possessing a dialogue through the similarity between the main elevation of Avenida Torrado da Silva and its rear elevation. Its openings are slender and vertical, with painted iron guards, also present on the balconies – becoming an important element in the composition of the elevations. The cladding system used (ETICS) has spaced joints between its plates to defragment the mass of the buildings, automatically creating dynamism and horizontal and vertical markings on the facades.
The main elevation (northwest) also has large glazed openings on the ground floor in order to highlight, illuminate and characterize this floor, which has an exclusively commercial function. The commercial spaces also have these large openings on their back facade followed by balconies which, in addition to adding possible experiences to the establishments, have the function of bringing shading to the space, which is a southeast facade.
The rear elevation (southeast) has on its first two floors, its structure of exposed beams and pillars, plastered and painted white, and its walls covered with tile, which is a prominent formal element in the language of the building, in addition to have the possibility of being local, low cost, easy maintenance and high resistance. This difference in materiality, bridged by the third floor of retail balconies and the subsequent residential floors, marks the three types of functionality present in the buildings.
The number of dwellings and the division of typologies established in the preliminary and subdivision program are duly respected and followed.