Casa Branca Community Arts Center
Portugal, 2022
Role: Site and workshops manager and student coordinator of BASEhabitat hands-on semester program. In collaboration with Tania Teixeira and Christian Daschek.
Students team: Aaron Eckert, Christine Gärtner, Lea Hartmann, Lorena Paulitschek, Mia Hemmerling, Moritz Berger, Nadine Dajanovic, Semjon Fehr, Tim Kölle.
Local partner: Estação Cooperativa
Technical guidance & workshops: Tania Teixeira (lime & clay mortars & plasters); Sam Boche (carpentry); Oficinas do Convento (ceramic tiles); Visit to Amorim Cork factory
Known for being an important railway junction in the beginning of the XX century, Casa Branca is currently the stereotype of desertification in the Alentejo region. Its current population is around 80 inhabitants, the village holds many abandoned industrial spaces, closed schools, uninhabited houses and vacant lots. Basehabitat partnered with local non-profit Estação Cooperativa to convert one group of unoccupied typical houses from Alentejo into community spaces and artist studios. The team of students, teachers and partners collaborated in the design and problem solving through the process.
Some components of the renovation included:
Repairing and upgrading the roof and ceiling: The team substituted rotten wood beams; manufactured and installed a innovative cork+lime insulation layer, together with a waterproofing membrane and a new ventilation chamber to improve the energy efficiency of the building; the new roof assembly and detailing was designed on site by the students and teachers.
rebuilding the decaying typical chimneys with existing bricks, lime mortar and lime plaster made from scratch; the team also used existing train tracks as beams, following the same building ideas from the original builders.
converting three small interior rooms into one open space: The team opened up interior walls and created 3 brick arches with repurposed bricks to avoid purchasing new beams.
Preparing lime putty from scratch for use on mortars, plasters and paints. Applying varied finish lime and clay plasters on interior and exterior walls.
Designing and creating ceramic tiles from scratch for the kitchen walls.
BASEhabitat is a masters and post-graduate program in the department of architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz. BASEhabitat focuses on socially responsible, sustainable projects in countries around the globe. A core element in the Master basehabitat is a hands-on term on a basehabitat construction site, where students design and build together with local partners.
Estação Cooperativa is a local cultural cooperative focused on the regeneration and of this desolate and aging rural territory, through a participative, collaborative and collective approach.
