Arquitectura multicultural

: habitação & equipamentos : Viseu, cidade inclusiva

Abstract

This project was developed inside the design studio of Integrated Renovation Design, following the design studios of Integrated Urban Design and Integrated Landscape Design, consisting of a Community Center and Housing, in the outskirts of the historical center of the city of Viseu. The target market transcends generational or ethnic boundaries, seeking to promote the interaction of diverse cultures and age groups by means of flexible spaces, capable of fulfilling
the needs inherent to each social group.
During the analysis, which took place through the first semester, we realized that the area was not provided with any kind of permanent purpose, some sort of urban void. With that in mind, the defined strategy was all about picking local references, present in the local landscape, from which we could evolve a solution.
We started to raise some doubts and questions about the shape and configuration of the housing sector in a way that they could please the most diverse living patterns, weathering adversities such as accessibility and topography. Given that, the housing environment will not attend
the needs of one specific social group, but will offer a multiplicity of typologies.
The rest of the building describes itself as a community center and offers a diverse cultural content and can be easily appropriated by its occupants. Along with that, the main purpose of the building will correlate with other similar associations located throughout the city, promoting partnerships.
That kind of hybrid architecture means a great deal to creating new urban and social dynamics, obtained through mixing housing facilities with public facilities. By forcing down the boundaries raised by one sided programs, we can allow a more diverse use of space.
The main goal is to, for instances, to conceive a plan that will enhance the already existing elements in the landscape. To do so, we´ll need to treat the borders of the consolidated city in order to establish a dialog between this element and the conceived project. It´s all about making areas of the city with great potencial come together who’ve been, until now, estranged from one another.
All of these intentions will evolve, alongside the principles of the inclusive city, with the objective
of conceiving a flexible space which can be easily appropriated and occupied for a diverse
use. A space for all. The city, as a complex organism, opposes itself over the principles of it´s mere conception. It’s creates force fields in a unexpected way due to the multiplicity of correlations that occur in it´s core. One of the main purposes of the project is to treat the housing space in a way that we can solve it´s fragilities in it´s urban and social condition.
Assembling the housing facility with the community center will allow us to create new dynamics which will stimulate the urban fluxes. In the present case, it will promote and make easier the process of integration of new individuals to a new community through social tolerance.

Date of Award	22 Dec 2017
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	António da Silva Ferreira de Carvalho (Supervisor)