VILA MODER

Studio project 3rd year 2nd semester

Gomes freire, Lisbon Housing

The increasing population density in Lisbon due to it’s rise in popularity in touristy routes has, undoubtedly been one of the most impactful phenomena in the city’s context. Once, as an high density and generally low-rise city, Lisbon was defined by its narrow streets, varied façades and confusing walkways. While at the current moment, thanks to the widening of the streets and the increasing height of buildings, is slowly becoming a generic 21st century city filled with boring blocks of vertically stacked office buildings with a touristy centred architecture, meaning it looks like it but it isn’t actually it. Once as a community centred low rise high density, now, soon-to-be profit-driven high rise, high density.

This led to one of the key features of the city, its enormous sense of community, to slowly fade away, thanks to the decrease in restrictiveness which, ironically is what gave it identity in the first place.

So the question arises if this sense can actually be brought back without the increasing publicity of the city affect it?

By taking small scale communities, creating common patios for each one and lifting the whole structure from the ground for public space, you end up establishing restrictive common space for the housing in the upper area and mitigating, in a way, the public beneath.