Parque Residencial da Boavista
Ana Amélia Ferreira, Ana Carolina Varejão, João Diogo Afonso , Maria Inês Silva
The real basis for this work is the Parque Residencial da Boavista and the creative foundation is the fantastic city of Valdrada, imagined by Italo Calvino. Valdrada was a city divided into two symmetrical parts, separated by a riverbed. Each side of the city exactly replicated the other, but inverted. Even so, despite the perfect symmetry, the city is constantly changing, people, houses and landscape alike. The reference came about after an initial visit to the neighbourhood, where we were able to experience what architecture and urbanism had to offer.
On approaching the site, you immediately feel the repetition of the blocks in contact with the avenue, which is topped by exceptional buildings, leading us to the first theme we presented, symmetry. Despite the apparent fragmentation conveyed by the various blocks, the reality is contradictory. A neighbourhood characterised as the best built in the 1970s in Portugal, still praised today in the city fabric, certainly has an identity, which we tried to discover.