Casa do Quarteirao

Designed by Orizzontale in São Miguel Island, Casa do Quarteirao is a wooden permanent installation that can be adapted and personalized by the local community.

“Casa do Quarteirão” is a permanent project developed within Walk&Talk Festival 2016 and it was born out of the lively community that lives and works in the neighborhood (Quarteirão), reclaiming a physical space for convivial and collaborative use.

Orizzontale, Casa do Quarteirao, São Miguel Island, 2016

Orizzontale was invited to realize an installation in the core of the neighborhood and to collaborate with NO-ROCKET (Francesco Zorzi an italian visual designer and illustrator based in Amsterdam) that had his intervention on visualizing “O Quarteirão” identity.

Orizzontale, Casa do Quarteirao, São Miguel Island, 2016

The project feature is metaphorically a Viveiro, a collective greenhouse to make “O Quarteirão” flourish and develop spontaneously. At the same time the idea was to re-create the intimacy of a traditional Azorian house. Thus Orizzontale worked on two elements, creating new inviting entrances to the space: a pavilion to provide a place for people to gather and organize events (Rua Pedro Homem) and a small structure with a tiny terrace (Rua d’Acoa), to give a cozy and unusual view of the area. Between these structures a new square took shape.

Orizzontale, Casa do Quarteirao, São Miguel Island, 2016

“Casa do Quarteirão” program was decided by its own users and was conceived as an open project: the simple building system made out of modular frames, could be adapted and personalized according to several configurations and needs and the various activities that the community wanted to develop.

Orizzontale, Casa do Quarteirao, São Miguel Island, 2016


Casa do Quarteirao, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Portugal
Program: public space
Architects: Orizzontale
Walk&Talk festival 2016
Completion: 2016