Edifício da Couraça de Lisboa
Due to the deep degradation of the building, a restoration wasn't feasible; moreover the lack of quality of the spatial organization replicated in the absence of housing conditions. Nevertheless, our project must accept its existence, which ends up conditioning both the scale and the organization of the space; on the other hand, the building had always been like a bypass between Rua José Falcão and Couraça de Lisboa - therefore, we intend to maintain the reference to that link, keeping in mind that the collective memories of the inhabitants truly incorporate the meaning of the city they belong to.
The wooden coated attic is by far the biggest modification in the front façade and it is meant to be seen with the simplicity of the natural things, as if it had always been there.
The abstract meaning of the North/West façade seeks for silence when observed from the University and it was also designed in order to have the maximum sunlight in the interior spaces without losing the meaning of domestic privacy. The materials are the ones traditionally used in local extensions and annex buildings: wood and corrugated iron. Even the exterior colour of the walls belongs to the place: it used to be often applied in ancient buildings of the surroundings.
In the interior, the common spaces retains the atmosphere of such buildings: either the hall and the stairs of the ground level have a stone coat; wooden floor is used on the other levels; a wooden panelling is applied in all of the building levels.
Two commercial spaces, five houses with one room each and one house with three rooms occupy the building interior. The idea was to promote either different lifestyles and daily rhythms, for different people, for a traditional family and for those who cross the local streets everyday - the students - as if the building was reflecting a balanced population basis of the historic area of Coimbra. The interest shown by those who become the actual inhabitants of the building, even during the construction time, proved that our decision did make sense.
