A community kitchen, Terras da Costa

Portuguese architecture studios ateliermob and Projecto Warehouse designed a social project for an illegal settlement in Costa da Caparica, not far from the Tagus river and just outside Lisbon. A community kitchen to improve the lives of almost 500 people.



Socially disadvantaged, marginalised, poor sanitary conditions - these are the key expressions used when talking about illegal or informal settlements. Realities that exist in Europe, as we can see in the award-winning project by ateliermob (known to our readers thanks to their Alvega Canoeing Center) with Projeto Warehouse, just a few kilometres from Lisbon. 





The Terras da Costa settlement is unofficially about 30 years old and in 2014 it accommodated about 500 residents, including 100 children from two ethnic backgrounds - African and Romani.
The design team from ateliermob started working with this community during the workshop “Noutra Costa”, promoted by the architecture department (DA/UAL) and the centre of architecture, city and territory studies (CEACT/UAL) of the Independent University of Lisbon. 





Meetings had already been held to elect a neighbourhood association as part of the Urban Boundaries project to improve literacy and this developed into a participatory process focusing on the construction of a community kitchen.
A shared place run by the residents themselves, and of course we are all aware of the symbolism of the kitchen as the hearth, the home itself, a protected place, a place filled with friendliness and warmth also in its broader sense.





So, all the players - including the neighbourhood association and the partnership between ateliermob and Projecto Warehouse for the design and project management, the support of the members of Casa do Vapor, a self-built construction in another settlement in the same municipality of Almada through to the economic support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundationa - actively and proactively worked together to create this community construction.





The Community Kitchen of Terras da Costa was completed in December 2014, another example of the great power of architecture for transformation and social particularly in disadvantaged contexts. This and self-building are the major issues of our times!

Christiane Bürklein

Architects: ateliermob, Projecto Warehouse
www.ateliermob.com
www.warehouse.pt
Partners: Câmara Municipal de Almada, SMAS Almada
Main Sponsor: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
Other Sponsors: Casa do Vapor, Studio ah-ah, Eurostand, Investwood, Exemplo Concreto, F. S. Máquinas, Carpintaria SALFER, Tintas CIN
Collaborators: Licia Soldavini, Diana Pereira, Martinho Meneses Pita, SaM Boche, João Peixe, Cindree, Maël Castellan, Inez Paiva, Severine Brug, Céline Lixon, Merril Sinéus, Diogo Anjos, Emeline Romanat, Marion Levoir, Noémie Paperin, Ana Catarino, Catarina Matos Silva, Sofi Sousa, Anna Ibraev (Ana Alfacinha), Luis de Botton, Mariana Pires, Bernardo Lourenço, Ana Rita Mendonça, Zé Nuno, José, Madalena Garnier Marques, Diogo, Etienne, Mariana Vargues, Inês Martins, Ana, Du Carvalho, Braíma, Hugo, Victor, Ivan, Sr. Mário, Sr. Duarte, Sr. Raúl, Lizzi, Dona Victoria, Dona Fonzinha, Marta, Thierry Oliveira, Cecilia Valenti.
Photos: Fernando Guerra | FG + SG
Location: Almada, Portugal
Year: 2014