in collaboration with Beth Hughes and Raúl Moura
Ellebo Housing Estate, with its simple urban structure, is a built manifesto of the modern ideal. Collective blocks with shared facilities assembled around a large communal outdoor area that can be enjoyed by all. The 1990’s renovations altered the technical performance of the building and was the first step towards improving the spatial qualities of the dwelling The introduction of closed balconies, extended the living spaces but also separated the residents from the outside. The renovation of the buildings presents the opportunity to mend this rift, and reintroduce the communal and outdoor space as a fundamental quality of the place.
The design strategy relies on three principles:
1. Community
The central green – a vase area of valuable open space – has enormous potential as a community resource that is currently not utilised. A collective program is injected into the inner plot: sports fields, children’s playgrounds, sitting areas; the communal building and other collective facilities are moved into the middle of the plot providing space for gatherings and events
2. Extend
How to improve the spatial quality of the existing dwellings without changing the interior layout?
A new layer of exterior space is added to the existing buildings: each flat is provided with a generous new balcony, an extension of the interior space. These balconies are protected by a glass façade, sheltering them from the elements: a semi-exterior condition is generated, allowing for the space to be used most of the year – a collective winter garden. Neighbours animate this communal space by extending their private realms to the balconies. A mosaic of diversity becomes the new façade of the building.
During the colder months the winter garden may be totally enclosed, forming a buffer zone from the exterior cold. In the summertime, glass windows in front of the balconies can slide away, and operable roof top panels of the winter garden can open, allowing for ventilation and a direct relationship with the exterior gardens.
3. Density
The addition of new typologies to the existing blocks is an opportunity to positively increase the programmatic complexity of the housing estate. The diversity of the current array of typologies will be enriched with apartments of one and three bedrooms. These new typologies are designed to offer different spatial qualities from the existing, and can even mutate to accommodate different uses over time. The best feature is to be found in the core of the apartments, a convertible courtyard that brings natural light inside, and also functions as an active sustainable element..
program: renovation of housing estate architecture: João Fagulha, João Ruivo, Raquel Oliveira, Beth Hughes, Raul Moura structural and services engineering: Quadrante Engenharia sustainability consultants: TU+A – Raul Moura acoustics: Amplitude Acoustics – Rui Ribeiro lifecycle costs: Inani, Chartered Surveyors – Neil Oliver 3d images: Panoptikon client: Nordic Innovation budget: 16.000.000€ area: 25.746m2 year: 2013 location: Ellebo, Denmark status: competition finalist.