Day 2

It’s the press, baby.

Today we read our project through the words of others. Some describe it as “ an occupation” or “an open door to the city”, stating that it “looks like a performance, not being one” while others label it as an “artistic residence”. Mostly, the news focus on the fact that we will really live there and sleep there, as well as on the broader issue being discussed:  transitory citizens and transitory buildings.

Day 1

The first dinner

The Moreiras joined us for dinner today. The architect and curator Ines Moreira, who has an interest for the emergent spatial practices told us about her recent project "Insatiable Builders" as we spoke about the building process of domesticating a commercial space. Paulo Moreira, who is also involved in the Homeland Portuguese Pavilion working with the theme of "informal" in Monte Xisto with Ateliermob and the City Council of Matosinhos, showed a particular interest in the relationship between our house and the city, established through the large windowpanes of the former bank. Various curious people joined us during the evening, interested in learning more about the project and understanding the reasons behind us living in a shopfront.

(photo by Paulo Moreira - taken from his Instagram)

Day 1

Catering

Many thanks to Andreia Garcia who kindly offered to take care of the home-made food for the day, which was delicious. Thanks to Niepoort for the wine and once more supporting our work!

Day 1
Objects etc.

Lots to think about after the first day, the house still feels very much like an empty theatre set, it is not completely our house yet. Besides the loaned furniture that we brought from the fantastic city hall archive, we still felt the need to make it look like a real home and so brought many objects from our family attics, our childhood bedrooms, enacting the houses where we once lived. The house will slowly transform and become ours, as the days go by.

day 1
The Opening.

For the first time, we opened the doors of our temporary house in Porto to the city. Amongst more than 50 spontaneous guests, friends and fellow architects, we proudly sat five eminent guests at our sofa in the living room: (1) the State Secretary of Culture Jorge Barreto Xavier, who praised the underlying risk and pertinence of the project; (2) the Culture Alderman Paulo Cunha e Silva who stated the relevance of the project in face of the current conditions of the city of Porto; (3) the Housing and Social Action Alderman Jose Manuel Pizarro that referred to the traditional saying "so many empty houses and so many homeless people"; (4) the Urbanism Alderman Manuel Correia Fernandes who talked about a new kind of citizen which he named the "passer-by", a growing typology that requires new housing frameworks; and (5) the chief curator of the Portuguese Representation in Venice, Pedro Campos Costa, who presented Homeland - News From Portugal, the Portuguese Pavilion. The informality provided by the domestic setting of the residence put the guests at ease - even if a little tight sharing the same sofa - which was interesting and made us think that indeed the setting might create a particular democratic and informal atmosphere between guests with different backgrounds and interests.