Project: Escadinhas Footpaths
Architects: Paulo Moreira Architectures + Verkron Art Collective
Location: Matosinhos, Portugal
Area: 6,458 sf
Year: 2021
Photographs by: Ivo Tavares Studio
‘Escadinhas Footpaths’ is a project that links architecture, art and the natural world. It is a network of pedestrian footpaths linking the hilly neighborhood of Monte Xisto to the banks of the River Leça in Matosinhos. The initiative is intended to demonstrate the added value that low-budget projects can bring to more ‘hidden’, neglected urban spaces in our cities.
Lasting a year, the process brought together a multidisciplinary team of architects, local builders, artists and an extensive network of partners. In the first phase of the building work, the steps leading to Rua das Escadinhas, an unusual urban device connecting the upper and lower levels of the western hill of Monte Xisto, were rehabilitated. The steps and handrail were repaired and a new boundary between the public steps and the private land adjoining them was created in the form of benches, allowing the stairs to be used as a resting place.
Following the path that links the foot of the steps to the River Leça, an old ruin was rebuilt and transformed into a seating area surrounded by nature. Small-scale interventions restored the site’s original character, undoing the precarious interventions carried out over the years. The meticulous rehabilitation of the site, which included adding benches in every ‘room’ in the building, has encouraged people to spend time there and transformed it into a place for socializing.
This project was promoted by INSTITUTO and designed by Paulo Moreira architectures, with Verkron, in the framework of Bairros Saudáveis initiative, also with support by InResidence / Ágora – Cultura e Desporto and União de Freguesias – Custóias, Leça do Balio e Guifões.
-Project description and images provided by Ivo Tavares Studio
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