Homeland | Venice Architecture Biennale

Project description

Informal housing is considered everything that is not formal, meaning everything that is not within the legal sphere of the State, whether that be for private or public initiative. This broad definition, starting from a well-identifiable center, qualifies and groups disparate margins. Therefore, we are writing about constructions and neighborhoods that may even be planned, often by technicians or masters who supported the residents, and that are not exclusively inhabited by populations from the most disadvantaged social classes, contrary to what is commonly thought.

In the Portuguese context, it is not easy to identify general architectural or morphological characteristics of informal construction. With some exceptions, the buildings do not exceed two floors and, when in neighborhoods, present a high index of copying neighboring details, although with a desire for decorative and identity differentiation. On the other hand, the geography in which it is built is decisive in the choice of materials and construction solutions, whether due to thermal or climatic constraints, or financial and constructive experience constraints of local masters.

There is much to be done in these neighborhoods in Matosinhos, not only in Monte Xisto but also, for example, in Bairro dos Pescadores, Gatões, or Monte de Espinho.

Monte Xisto, the neighborhood chosen by Paulo Moreira to work on and design an intervention, has a symbolic load that illustrates the transformations in a century of housing in Portugal. From the history of farms and the feudal land relations system, to the struggle to acquire land for building the dreamed house, to the tension with the State arising from conflicts with the law and planning. In addition to this context, in the area where Paulo Moreira designs, there is an urgent need to contain the land destabilized by the demolition of some constructions. His work and that of photographers Nelson D'Aires, Paulo Pimenta, and Valter Vinagre materialized in this exhibition are a fundamental contribution to bringing visibility to the problem, making intervention by public authorities inevitable.

On the other hand, an urban redevelopment action for the entire urban ensemble of Monte Xisto should be thought of over time, starting from the organization of its residents in representative structures such as residents' associations. A representation that goes beyond neighborhood conflicts, gains in assertiveness, and manages to become a central actor in the decision-making process. It is the residents themselves - through democratic processes and with qualified technical support - who should make decisions about the squares, streets, and necessary gardens, being aware that the rooting of a democratic and participatory culture does not undermine or remove responsibilities from the technician or the municipality, but rather reinforces and qualifies the nature of the transformation.