The Caminho das Escadinhas is a requalification project of an area of the Monte Xisto neighborhood, in Matosinhos, which has colored a small trail to give "visibility to this neighborhood"
On one side, the hilly neighborhood of Monte Xisto; on the other, a green landscape that leads us to the banks of the river Leça, in Matosinhos; in the middle, a colorful path that has become the joy of those who live in this "forgotten" neighborhood. Caminho das Escadinhas is a project that bet on the requalification of this space to "show that it is possible, through architecture and artistic practice, to draw attention to these forgotten places in the city, thus giving visibility to this neighborhood," says Paulo Moreira, architect responsible for the renovation of Caminho das Escadinhas, to P3.
After an application to the Bairros Saudáveis program, created by the Portuguese government to "improve some precarious areas or areas in impoverished neighborhoods, through small investments," the idea got off the ground and with the help of local builders and the artist collective Verkron, the stairs that connect nature to Rua das Escadinhas have gained new colors and new shapes.
In the requalification of the stairs, because there was no well defined limit between what was public and private, "the idea arose to create a new border in benches, so that the stairway itself could be a resting and conviviality area to promote the stay, the permanence and the walk between the space of the stairs to the trail," describes the architect. In terms of colors, the neighborhood itself was the inspiration. "The colors that exist in the stairway are almost an emphasization of the colors that the neighborhood has. The colors that exist in the houses, in the tiles, in the railings were the inspiration for this project", he mentions.
But the renovation of that space didn't stop only with the stairs. The trail that connects the neighborhood to the Leça River went through a process of "depollution" of all the garbage that was deposited there over the years. The cleaning of this place made visible "an old ruin of a house that had been abandoned for more than 40 years". This place ended up becoming another "social space" for the population of this neighborhood. Through reconstruction and transformation, Monte Xisto gained another colorful space with "seating areas" for the community to enjoy the natural attributes of that place.
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