Questioning Urban Patterns - re-design of existing urban plan for residential use

PROGRAM: urban plan for residencial use
YEAR: 2007- on going
LOCATION: Famalicão, Portugal
SITE AREA: 14273m2;
CREATIVE TEAM: Susana Saraiva, Márcia Oliveira, Sérgio Magalhães

In 2007 a client asked metroquadrado® if it was possible to review a residential urban plan project developed by a foreign architecture company for an area of 14 273m2 located in Famalicão, Portugal.
The project was considered to be too detached from the geography of the site as well as from portuguese culture. However there was already a lot of investment done in the area namely the road infrastructure and the first set of row houses on the upper part of the site.
metroquadrado® approach was to respect the exiting structure and optimize the relationship between construction and geography; buildings and nature; architecture and natural light.
The end result is a complex of 38 houses and 2 commercial facilities, several green and sport parks that establish a continuous green ring around the site and connect with the existing public bicycle track, just outside the site on the lower side.