Placed as the silver lining of Lisbon's abrupt geography, is what could be considered Smithon’s ruins in reverse: forgotten wilderness enclosed by decadent facades preserved as a statement of the popular heritage contained in the rua. The project's proposal turns this forgotten wilderness into a domestic space for the neighbourhood, a garden of the commons. As a potentially radical act, what before was considered a residue and a fracture in the city now nurtures the most treasured craftmanship and, concious of the material heritage of the surroundings, provides a pottery workshop for the local artisans
A Clay Garden in Graça is an atlas of the semiotics of the mundane, a humble manifesto about what our approach to the preservation of the commons within the city can be. A space that serves to its public agency but also is undefined enough so as to be shaped to the evolving needs of the community.
