"Mas... na Baixa vive-se?" A Reabilitação da Casa dos Avós

Abstract

Oporto's historic center has been experiencing a tourism boom, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, which has been playing an important role as one of the main drivers of its buildings' rehabilitation. However, the systematic adoption of standardized housing typologies mostly directed to that sector, as well as structural and constructive buildings' authenticity damaging solutions, may lead to a loss of local uniqueness and notoriety, precisely some of the key factors of attractiveness and sustainability of the city and the tourism itself. Our dissertation drives against the backdrop of that standardization's general context, carrying out a theoretical and conceptual reflection around the contemporary condition of Grandparents' Home and the place where it belongs - a typical bourgeois house, located in the historic center of Oporto classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site - on the basis of which an alternative housing program is sought, and a rehabilitation solution rehearsed to help making possible an affirmative answer to the timeless question, so often posed to the family that inhabits it: "But ... is it possible to live in Baixa?". Cohousing emerges, as a current housing program and a guarantor of the Grandparents' Home long-term sustainability, as well as a compromise solution, compatible with a contemporary architectural intervention, which can give back its vitality, although minimally affecting its structural essence, here being understood as an umbilical cord connecting the city and the Oporto bourgeois house, as well as the family history. In the final concept, a return to its original form is promoted: that of an integral house, genuinely open to all its residents.