Teaching architecture through intervention in public spaces

the case of the ALDO dog park in the Quinta do Loureiro neighbourhood

Abstract

This presentation explores the approach of architectural education to collaborative practices and complex social contexts through projects that intervene directly in public space, creating constructive and material solutions that establish points of dialogue with the community and the identity of places.

In particular, the presentation focuses on the conception and materialisation of a permanent project for the Quinta do Loureiro neighbourhood, at the request of the residents, through a partnership with the municipality of Campo de Ourique City within the scope of the Architecture degree at theUniversidade Autónoma de Lisboa. The choice of materials, the constructive solutions and the execution itself clearly reflect the ambition to create a dog park as a community space with new programmatic features and a poetic dimension.

The aim is to contribute to the debate on the importance of exploring the relationship between teaching and intervention in real contexts, in order to obtain results that, both from the point of view of the materials and their form and function, contribute to social dynamics and urban enhancement, helping to solve urban problems specific to a location, but at the same time capable of generating thoughts and methodologies of analysis and intervention applicable in other cultural and geographical contexts.