Santa Cruz

Team: João Nuno Macedo, Ricardo Silva, Margarida Macedo
Built Area: 1297m2
Location: Braga, Portugal
Status: Concluded
Years: 2016-2019
Photos: Ivo Tavares Studio
Publications: Archdaily, Archdaily BR, Archdaily MX, Metalocus, Archiscene, Archello, Not a Paper House, Contemporist, Espaço Arquitetura, designverse, NEW GENERATIONS

Santa Cruz

Team: João Nuno Macedo, Ricardo Silva, Margarida Macedo
Built Area: 1297m2
Location: Braga, Portugal
Status: Concluded
Years: 2016-2019
Photos: Ivo Tavares Studio
Publications: Archdaily, Archdaily BR, Archdaily MX, Metalocus, Archiscene, Archello, Not a Paper House, Contemporist, Espaço Arquitetura, designverse, NEW GENERATIONS

In the beginning there were two single-story houses, unproportioned in the street context which in itself is characterized by a cold, gray and misfit appearance in its constituent buildings with decontextualized images and striking façades. The buildings ranged from typical historic buildings to others that were more contemporary or pointed towards that intention. The idea was to simplify with clean and sober lines, something that would find itself without emphasis, something light, something that would adapt to the immense possible futures that the street may have.
The building appears as a volume at the street level, that gets suspended in its inner quarter over the basement floor, where the parking lot is located. Basically, it’s a suspended volume without interfering with the neighboring ones.
The building is developed/ designed for a university market "target", so its interior is defined by this concept, through apartments with a simple set of plans, and other more avant-garde elements working in perfect harmony.
Through the use of color, it is provoked a sense of living, that doesn’t cause restrictions but turns the place fluid to the several contexts this typology might have. It felt imperative to attribute character to this interior space, enabling to be someone’s space, someone who is starting a new academic or professional life or even just passing temporarily, this should be the space that allows them to feel as their own place, their home for the time being.

No início existiam duas casas, térreas, fora de escala em relação à rua que por si só assumia uma característica fria, cinzenta e desformatada em todos os seus edifícios, com imagens descontextualizadas e alçados marcantes. Esses, iam desde alçados de edifícios de época a outros mais contemporâneos ou com a pretensão de o serem. A ideia era simplificar, com linhas sóbrias e limpas, algo que se desse por si sem marcar, algo leve, algo que se adapte aos imensos futuros que a rua poderá ter.
O edifício foi projectado para o “target” universitário/jovem, assim o seu interior define essas premissas, com apartamentos definidos por planos, simples, e elementos vanguardistas funcionando numa perfeita harmonia. Com o elemento “cor”, que desperta interesse na vivência do espaço, mas que não restringe, tornando-o fluido aos vários contextos que poderá ter. Foi imperativo atribuir carácter a esse espaço interior, possibilitando-o de ser o espaço de alguém que esteja a começar a vida académica, a vida profissional ou por um período temporário, e que o faça sentir como sendo o seu lugar, a sua casa.

Santa Cruz

Team: João Nuno Macedo, Ricardo Silva, Margarida Macedo
Built Area: 1297m2
Location: Braga, Portugal
Status: Concluded
Years: 2016-2019
Photos: Ivo Tavares Studio
Publications: Archdaily, Archdaily BR, Archdaily MX, Metalocus, Archiscene, Archello, Not a Paper House, Contemporist, Espaço Arquitetura, designverse, NEW GENERATIONS

In the beginning there were two single-story houses, unproportioned in the street context which in itself is characterized by a cold, gray and misfit appearance in its constituent buildings with decontextualized images and striking façades. The buildings ranged from typical historic buildings to others that were more contemporary or pointed towards that intention. The idea was to simplify with clean and sober lines, something that would find itself without emphasis, something light, something that would adapt to the immense possible futures that the street may have.
The building appears as a volume at the street level, that gets suspended in its inner quarter over the basement floor, where the parking lot is located. Basically, it’s a suspended volume without interfering with the neighboring ones.
The building is developed/ designed for a university market "target", so its interior is defined by this concept, through apartments with a simple set of plans, and other more avant-garde elements working in perfect harmony.
Through the use of color, it is provoked a sense of living, that doesn’t cause restrictions but turns the place fluid to the several contexts this typology might have. It felt imperative to attribute character to this interior space, enabling to be someone’s space, someone who is starting a new academic or professional life or even just passing temporarily, this should be the space that allows them to feel as their own place, their home for the time being.

No início existiam duas casas, térreas, fora de escala em relação à rua que por si só assumia uma característica fria, cinzenta e desformatada em todos os seus edifícios, com imagens descontextualizadas e alçados marcantes. Esses, iam desde alçados de edifícios de época a outros mais contemporâneos ou com a pretensão de o serem. A ideia era simplificar, com linhas sóbrias e limpas, algo que se desse por si sem marcar, algo leve, algo que se adapte aos imensos futuros que a rua poderá ter.
O edifício foi projectado para o “target” universitário/jovem, assim o seu interior define essas premissas, com apartamentos definidos por planos, simples, e elementos vanguardistas funcionando numa perfeita harmonia. Com o elemento “cor”, que desperta interesse na vivência do espaço, mas que não restringe, tornando-o fluido aos vários contextos que poderá ter. Foi imperativo atribuir carácter a esse espaço interior, possibilitando-o de ser o espaço de alguém que esteja a começar a vida académica, a vida profissional ou por um período temporário, e que o faça sentir como sendo o seu lugar, a sua casa.