Residential Complex near Porto
- Frank Kaltenbach
The Portuguese village community of Vale de Cambra is located 40 km southeast of Porto. Surrounded by dispersed houses and halls with red sheet metal or tile covered roofs, the six new concrete shed roof structures seem like their own village, monolithically grey, composed of free standing houses on top of a pedestal containing a supermarket, restaurants or offices. Due to the high degree of prefabrication, the client's goals - keeping construction costs low and construction time short - were achieved. The intensive collaboration between the architects and a local concrete producer was rewarding in financial terms: The six houses, each covering 45 m² of residential area and the structure below, comprising 640 m² of commercial area, cost only 750 000 euro. According to the architects' estimates, this is 30 % less than in the case of conventional construction. Despite problems on the building site, all 30 modules were erected in only six weeks. Six months later, the apartments were ready for occupation.
