A luz que habita o espaço. Um dia de verão numa casa do Bairro da Malagueira

Abstract

Light, as impermanent matter, has the ability to mould spaces, accentuate their specificities and contours and, depending on the time and place, significantly alter the perception of what surrounds us. In the context of the home, which we ideally consider to be a personalised and intimate space, light not only makes it possible to systematise daily experiences based on its cyclical condition, but it also becomes decisive in shaping its inhabitant's personal experience, adapting naturally to the physical and sensory needs of their daily routine. Taking housing and its interaction with light as the object of study, this work will address a vast set of framing questions. These will arise not per se, but according to our object of analysis, in this case the Malagueira neighbourhood by Álvaro Siza, seeking to capture the experimental circumstance of light in a specific time and place. This way, it's possible for us to mould its concrete elements and, at the same time, take advantage of their sculptural quality in a way to challenge its light design, due to its materiality or symbolic force. Thus, this exploration constitutes not only a contribution to the discussion around the design of current housing, emphasising the sensible in the act of domesticating the space, but also placing light as a critical element capable of inducing and shaping the living experience.