Belém
The intervention was to be simple, fast and low budget. New cladding materials were to be applied and the renewal of the existing infrastructures.
The works began and the hoax came to light. Damaged wood structural walls levitating in the air were found and no concrete slab in touch with the ground. Despite the panic, the calamity turned into an opportunity.
The structural and construction issues were solved. The apartment was spatially transformed, opening to new chances. Three intercommunicating spaces were created, endowing with flexibility the desired living – rooms with no predetermined function. By enlarging one of the walls a new technical area was created, as well as a toilet, which simultaneously serves two spaces, opening itself and transforming into a passage for people and light. In the back, the apartment became participant of the public passage – new stair and new openings.
In the end it was confirmed that these popular and naïve housing typologies are very flexible, having the ability to be transformed without losing its original character.
