The brief for this competition, promoted by the city council, was to design both social housing (minimum 80 apartments ranging from one-beds to three-beds) and student housing (minimum 50 units) on the Northern corner of an existing housing complex surrounded by vineyards located in Carcavelos. Taking into consideration the proliferation of new communities of 'digital nomads' moving to Portugal, the rising statistics of single-parent households in the area and young people (including students) being priced out of the private rental market due to the recent real estate boom, co-living provides an interesting solution to several issues. 

 

Therefore, while also providing traditional social housing, this project proposes co-living as an adequate solution for students, young people, and single parents. With this, the project unfolds as three small buildings to the East (with one to three bedroom flats) revolving around a family oriented green courtyard, and one long building to the West housing the co-living units. Throughout the project shared spaces can be found, such as a small mini-market, café, creche, gym, and a bike repair workshop, in order to promote sustainability and a sense of community. In terms of architectural language, the two typologies complement each other: the three buildings share a common language of solid blocks 'perforated' with loggias, while the long building is a block wrapped in walkways.