Housing and community

Abstract

This communication comes from a practical proposal of the rehabilitation of structures in villages from the neighbourhood of Bairro da Serafina e Liberdade, in Campolide, Lisboa, developed during the 3rd year, in the course unit of Architecture VI, in the integrated Master of Architecture, from ISCTE-IUL, presented in the academic year of 2015/2016. We should consider that the type of intervention proposed serves new types of families which determine a redesign of the housing programme, bearing in mind the local context where it is localized. This way, this presentation is shown in a study more centred in the reinterpretation of the collective dwelling of the houses, focusing in the collective shared spaces, like the kitchen. In the proposed rehabilitation, it is stimulated and privileged the sharing of a common space – the kitchen, so that the residents have better housing conditions, with more agreeable spaces where fire is used, bearing in mind the small dimensions of the fires. It is important to notice that most houses of the block are totally or practically unoccupied. So, in order to propose a new way of housing, an inter-generational contact between old and new residents is promoted, as well as better living conditions and well-being. This way, it is very important to understand: (1) the essential characteristics of the structures in villages in Lisboa, so that the essential is kept and preserved in a rehabilitation proposal; (2) the importance of the kitchen in the house; (3) the type of space: preparation, confection and eating; (4) the way the kitchen adapts itself to be shared by different fires and if this space of preparation, confection and eating may have no fire at all.