This intervention was done in the old part of Câmara de Lobos, a small fishing town on the south of the island. It is an urban renovation project consisting of four buildings, a square and pedestrian routes towards the seafront. The project began in the square and extended to incorporate several buildings. It was a chaotic clutter of decrepit houses, hard to navigate and beset with parking difficulties.
The proposal also included the parish church and its environs. The buildings were reorganised around a new spacious car-free square, with open views of the horizon and the mountains dropping down to the sea. The new accesses leading to the beach are connected to the existing pedestrian routes, creating new pathways.
The new buildings follow the existing architecture, i.e. similar volumes, urban organisation, colours and materials. What differs is the formal language of the buildings and the way the public space is addressed, which is neither mimetic nor nostalgic.
