Atelier _ Roger Mendez Badias

Trafaria _ Lisbon _ Portugal

Trafaria is a parish in the municipality of Almada, which enjoys an exceptional location in relation to the metropolitan area of Lisbon and the mouth of the Tagus River. It is a small settlement situated on the transitional ridge between the Atlantic Ocean and the south bank of the river, opposite Lisbon. This human settlement dates back to the middle of the 16th century, when the Lazaretto was built here, a place for the quarantine of all those returning from maritime expeditions. The life of this community has always been linked to fishing, a source of subsistence that still feeds a large part of the population today. On the perimeter of the Trafaria industrial zone, two informal settlements of significant size have sprung up, known as Torrao 1 and 2, where a large number of families live without adequate infrastructure and in inadequate conditions. This place, marked by a precarious social and economic environment, is the subject of reflection on the basis of the construction of a new school centre capable of being the seed of change. The proposed programme allows for the development of fundamental architectural issues. The different identities and building typologies that converge on the site become the object of reflection for the creation of the whole. Starting from a new construction necessary for the fulfilment of the defined functional programme, strategies for the creation of a new place will be presented. An intervention programme is proposed that questions not only the buildings themselves and their uses, but also the adjacent public and social spaces. Thus creating, through architecture, new spaces that help to improve the lives of the inhabitants, the Escola do Amanha.