At its core is a permeable communal green space that acts as social, climatic, and hydrological infrastructure. It supports daily collective life through shared gardens, children’s areas, a communal kitchen and oven, laundry and a water tank, resting zones, and informal gathering spaces. All units and circulation are oriented toward this interior landscape, extending living spaces through terraces and gallery-balconies, and fostering exchange between residents within a naturally cross-ventilated environment.

The housing is conceived as a co-living community, combining compact private units with large shared spaces for informal interaction, intergenerational living, and mutual support. The units are based on a 3 m × 11.5 m structural module, derived from the structural frame and parking geometry, allowing adaptable unit types through addition or reduction of the module. Kitchens and bathrooms are aligned as shared service cores between units to optimize construction costs and promote adaptability. The first floor of the housing blocks is made in locally sourced granite blocks, while the upper levels use a CLT timber structural system, enabling lighter construction and modular assembly.

The project emphasizes ecological performance and biodiversity protection through rainwater harvesting, infiltration gardens, and underground cisterns integrated with the semi-underground garage, ensuring resilience to increasing drought conditions. Climatically, the courtyard-garden works as a passive system for ventilation, shading, and temperature regulation.

Overall, the proposal creates a resilient, integrated living environment where architecture, landscape, intergenerational exchange, and ecology operate as one caring assemblage.

Team: Silvia Benedito (partner) with Telmo Cruz (co-architect), Marcus Eichermüller and Daniella Slowik
Engineers Structural, Water, Electricity and Fire Safety: ECA Projects, Lda / Eng. Paulo Sampaio