Taís de Moraes Alves, MCH2017, Brazil

Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM) +
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
Studies on Housing
Portfolio | Taís de Moraes Alves
September 2017
Master in Advanced Studies in Collective Housing | MCH

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05
07
09
17
27
37
49
63
71
81
97
105
Acknowledgements
Introduction
A Room is a Window
15-meter Deep Building
Live Together
Co-housing in Barcelona
Polar Bear
Efficient Housing in Finland
Matryoshka
Sustainable Housing in Moscow
The Band
A New Neighbourhood in Madrid
Belonging
Housing in Makeni
Inside-Out
Intervention in an Industrial Area of Dunkirk
Scale Disney:Dioclesian
Housing in a Historical Site
Promenade
Common Circulation Between Blocks
Joynery
High-Rise in Zürich
INDEX

5
I would like to thank all the people who made possible
the 2017 edition of the Master in Collective Housing.
Especially, I would like to thank the directors Prof. José
Maria Lapuerta and Prof. Andrea Deplazes, who always
showed themselves committed with the excellence of
the master.
Moreover, I would like to thank the workshop leaders
Andrea Deplazes, Anna Heringer, Anne Lacaton,
Dietmar Eberle, Hrvoje Njiric, Josep Maria Montaner,
Patrick Gmür and Zaida Muxí, who generously taught
me so much.
The support of the workshop assistants Daniela Arias,
Diego García-Setién, Fernando Altozano, Gustavo
Rojas, Nieves Mestre and Rosario Segado was also
essential and I would like to acknowledge their
dedication.
I would also like to thank the module coordinators
Alejandro de Miguel Solano, Almudena Martínez del
Olmo, Belén Gesto Barroso, Carmen Espegel, Ignacio
Fernández Solla, Javier García-Germán, Jesus Leal
Maldonado, Sacha Menz and Vittorio Magnago
Lampugnani, who prepared excellent courses and gave
us extremely interesting lectures. The classes given
by professors Axel Paulus, Archie Campbell, Bernardo
Ynzenga, David Rutter, Diego García-Setién and Ginés
Garrido added even more to these courses.
Furthermore, I would like to thank all the guest
lecturers who in a few hours managed to share with
us many interesting ideas.
I would also like to thank the MCH manager Rosario
Segado and the MCH executive assistant Maria José
Manga, who were always close to us and made the
master possible.
I would like to thank with all my heart my friends
Arman Amin, Blanca Guillén, Daniel Alcalá, Georges
El Hachem, Gonzalo Lozano Arce, Marcela Valério,
Maria Alejandra Pelaéz, Maria Amado Mannise,
Maria Eizayaga, Marta Juliana Abril, Mauricio
Mendez Wiesner, Natália Ayumi Sato, Oscar Gilbert,
Oscar Rodriguez Perales and Riham Zawil, who not
only shared their knowledge and culture, but also
made our days a lot more fun.
I would also like to say thank you to my family and
especially to my parents, Isabel and Marcílio, who
supported me in every possible way and and with
whom I always laugh so much. To my dear brother,
Pedro, who is also a great friend. To Fulvio, who
inspires me and brings me so much happiness. To
my friend Fernanda, who sheltered me in many
occasions and with whom I had lots of fun, and to
my friend Gabriela, who made everything lighter
during her visit. Finally, to Madrid, for opening its
doors and serving tapas and offering a continuous
blue sky.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

7
This portfolio comprises projects developed during the
Master in Collective Housing (MCH), a postgraduate
program offered by the Universidad Politécnica of
Madrid (UPM) and by the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH).
Although many of the projects propose mixed use
buildings, the main program is always housing. Housing,
however, is thought from a contemporary point of view
that considers the architectural tradition in this field at
the same time that new ways of living and of designing
are investigated.
Most of the projects were developed during design
workshops that lasted 5 days and that were led by
important architects who not only proposed the
architectural theme we should address during the week,
but also introduced us to their way of understanding
architecture.
INTRODUCTION

9
A Room is a Window
Professor Andrea Deplazes | Assistant Fernando Altozano
Team Taís de Moraes Alves
Location Rio de Janeior, Brazil | Development 5 days
Brenton Salo, Walk Through Light
Workshop
15-meter deep Building

10
A Room is a Window | 15-meter Deep Building
The starting point for this project was the building depth,
in my case 15 meters. Having set that parameter and a
defined area, 100 squared meters plus a loggia, we made
an intense typological study trying to understand how the
building depth influenced the units and which would be
the strategies to benefit most from its particular condition.
Moreover, the structure – in its broader sense – had be
thought as part of the core concept of the unit.
In my case, the 15-meter depth posed a challenge related to
lighting. Instead of creating a central dark corridor leading
to rooms distributed along the facade, I decided to use the
rooms next to the facade as windows that would illuminate
the central space, were the living was placed.
Additionally, the typology had a double circulation that
should make the space more dynamic and provide the
possibility of accessing the different rooms in a more private
manner. Finally, the structure, based on vaults supported by
loadbearing walls, emphasized the gain of sunlight.
After designing the typology, the building was implanted in
Copacabana, a beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where one can
find attached buildings in which a sensible approach to light
is important.

11
Above, some of the plans that were
developed during the workshop

12
Plan | Scale 1:100
0 1 5 10m

13
Section | Scale 1:300
0 1 5 10m

17
Live Together
Professors Josep Maria Montaner and Zaida Muxí | Assistant Daniela Arias
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Georges El Hachem, Maria Eizayaga, Oscar Rodriguez Perales
Location Barcelona, Spain | Development 5 days
The Danse, Henry Matisse
Workshop
Co-housing in Barcelona

18
Live Together | Co-housing in Barcelona
We developed a housing building based on the concept of
co-housing, a typology that is starting to be implanted in
Barcelona. This way of living, already common in countries
such as Germany, Switzerland and Uruguay, is formed by a
strong community of neighbours that arrange their homes
around shared spaces. In that sense, co-housing buildings
cultivate a sharing and caring culture and depend on a
group of residents that have values and interests in common.
In our case, we developed a project for a group of people of
many ages and cultural backgrounds that had in common a
passion for cooking. In that way, these people could benefit
from each other’s company and at the same time embrace
sustainability values. Moreover, they had the possibility of
supporting the local community by offering free cooking
courses.
The residents of the building would be involved in several
communal activities, starting from agriculture on the
rooftop, moving to managing the meal plans and cooking in
the central kitchen, to selling organic products, organizing
cooking workshops and dealing with the requirements of the
restaurant on the ground floor.
Community activities would include regularly scheduled
shared meals, meetings and workdays where each week a
group of people would be responsible for cooking for all the
neighbours.
Having said that, although the project fostered community
values, privacy was also treasured. In that sense, the units
offered all the basic infrastructure and the building design
gave a special attention to the transition from public to
private spaces.
On this page, sketches.
On the right, model of
the final project

20
On this page, from top to bottom:
implantation, food diagram, family
grouping, food cycle diagram and
water cycle diagram

22
Ground floor, kitchen and mezanine plans
0 1 5 10m
0 1 5 10m
0 1 5 10m
Integral valoration
test, a tool developed
by Montaner, Muxi
and Falagán to
evaluate housing.
In our case, all the
criterias painted in
yellow were achieved

23
Typical Plan | Scale 1:250
0 1 5 10m

24
On this page, general views of
the building and ventilation
scheme. On the next page,
image of the kitchen

27
Polar Bear
Module Coordinator Ignacio Fernández Solla
Lecturers Archie Campbell, David Rutter, Diego García-Setién
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Gonzalo Lozano Arce, Maria Amado Mannise
Location Jyväskylä, Finland | Development 5 months
An infra-red picture of a polar bear
Specialty | Construction and Technology
Efficient Housing in Finland

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Polar Bear | Efficient Housing in Finland
This project was developed inside the module Construction
and Technology, which aimed to show buildings as entities
based on the interplay of three physical realms: structure,
envelope and services, connected by one technique,
industrialization.
We developed a housing proposal based on an existing project
found online. The location of the building was changed – in
our case, from Turkey to Finland – and with that all the
construction aspects had to be rethought.
Since our building was transferred to Jyvaskyla, a city with
very cold winters, the thermodynamic performance of our
building was one of our main concerns. To define our strategy,
we based ourselves on the way polar bears’ fur and skin help
them gain and maintain heat.
Differently from common belief, polar bears’ fur is transparent
and only looks white because it reflects the snow. Accordingly,
the fur has a dual purpose: it camouflages the animal in its
natural environment and at the same time traps air next to
the skin, which is actually black, enhancing heat gain.
The polar bear’s strategy was adopted in our building
envelope, which is composed by two layers: an outer
polycarbonate transparent skin, that creates a buffer zone
around the building, and an inner Phase Change Material
(PCM) layer, which storages heat during the day and releases it
into the building during the night.
Apart from enhancing the heat storage through the use of
PCM panels, the building had a significant insulation layer
in all the facades not exposed to sunlight and a centralized
district heating system which was distributed to the units
through a radiant floor.
The structural walls and partitions were made of prefabricated
cross-timber panels and the slabs were made with panels
in the same material, but with an added concrete layer to
increase thermal mass.
All the main construction materials – polycarbonate, PCM
panels and cross-timber panels are produced up to 150km
away from Jyvaskyla.
From top to bottom Implantation (no scale) |
Map of the region locating the local providers
of cross-timber panels and PCM panels |
Image exemplifying a construction process
that could be adopted

30
Polar bear Polar bear skin Skin tech PCM panel
Upper to lower row Project concept | Phase Change Material
(PCM) panels in its crystal, intermediate and liquid phase;
solar heat is stored in the PCM by means of a melting process
| Facade elements such as polycarbonate panels, PCM panels
and triple glazing openings | Cross-timber prefab panels

31
Winter day and
night (building
and unit)
Summer day
(building and unit)
Summer night
(building and unit)
Thermodynamic schemes schowing
the building’s and unit’s performance
in different seasons

34
Structural scheme
Water cycle
Energy cycle
Hidraulic Services and Heating System

35
Below, weather charts of
Finland and pictures of polar
bears and birches

37
Matryoshka
Professor Javier García-Germán
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Maria Amado Mannise
Location Moscow, Russia | Development 1 month
Specialty | Thermodynamic Design Strategies
Russian Matryoshka dolls
Sustainable Housing in Moscow

38
Matryoshka | Sustainable Housgin in Moscow
In the module Thermodynamic Design Strategies we
developed a housing project for Moscow, Russia. No
particular site was assigned, since in this exercise we
should start by defining a thermodynamic-architectural
concept based on the city’s climate.
Our group decided to work with the idea of overlapping
layers, each one of them with a particular function.
The outer glass layer should allow heat gain through
solar radiation and create a buffer zone that would
protect the housing nucleus from the outside weather.
This area would work as a protected park filled with
deciduous trees that would create shade in summer and
loose their leaves in winter, allowing sun light to pass
through them.
The second layer, the building’s main structure, should
be made of concrete, a material with high thermal mass
that would store the heat gained by radiation. In this
area, that includes communal areas of the building and
the main living room of the units, heating and cooling
would be passive.
The third layer would be an insulated timber capsule
with active heating and cooling where all the main daily
activities would take place.
Apart from this small minimum controlled area, the use
of the other layers of the building would be seasonal.
On the right side of this page, thermodynamic schemes

40
Materials, unit section and imagined use of each space during the different seasons

41
Each of the layers of the building
would have a particular function:
the outer glass layer would
allow gain of solar radiation; the
concrete structure would store
heat due to its high thermal mass;
and the insulated timber capsule
would provide continuous comfort
due to active heating and cooling.

44
Illustrations showing the use of the building during winter

46
Thermodynamic strategies
XTERNAL MASS
RGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
FESSOR JAVIER GARCIA-GERMAN
MARIA AMADO MANNISE , TAÍS D
MASTER IN COLLECTIVE HOUSING 2017, E
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
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10
9
8
7
16
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N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
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SE
SW
NENW
12
11
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9
8
7
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Building orientation to
benefit from most frequent
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
W
Open volume in summer
and closed volume in
winter and mid seasons
MASS - SHAPE SOLAR RADIATION VENTILATION
Tilted surface to create chimney
effect and an increase in surface
for southwest facade
Building orientation for
gain solar radiation
Increase of solar exposure
to the southwest direction
Increase of surface of
southwest facade
Adaptation of the cube
Compactness to
minimize heating loss
Glass box to maximize the gain
of solar radiation
MARIA AMADO MANNISE , TAÍS DE MORAES ALVES
MASTER IN COLLECTIVE HOUSING 2017, ETSAM-ETH ZÜRICH
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
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SE
SW
NENW
12
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9
8
7
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N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
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and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
NW
SOLAR RADIATION VENTILATION
southwest facade
2
AL MASS
STAINABILITY
ER GARCIA-GERMAN
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
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N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
NW
APE SOLAR RADIATION VENTILATION
southwest facade
the gain
2
XTERNAL MASS
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
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N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
W
southwest facade
Compactness to
of solar radiation
XTERNAL MASS
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
W
southwest facade
Compactness to
of solar radiation
AL MASS
STAINABILITY
ER GARCIA-GERMAN
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
NW
APE SOLAR RADIATION VENTILATION
southwest facade
the gain
2
RNAL MASS
ND SUSTAINABILITY
OR JAVIER GARCIA-GERMAN
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
NW
SS - SHAPE SOLAR RADIATION VENTILATION
southwest facade
on of the cube
tness to
e heating loss
ox to maximize the gain
radiation
2
RNAL MASS
ND SUSTAINABILITY
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
NW
southwest facade
on of the cube
tness to
e heating loss
radiation
2
RNAL MASS
ND SUSTAINABILITY
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
N
EW
S
21 June solstice
21 July/21 May
21 August/21 April
21 Sept/21 Mar
21 Oct/21 Feb
21 Nov/ 21 Jan
21 Dec solstice
15
14
13
SE
SW
NENW
12
11
10
9
8
7
16
17
18
and strongest winds
in summer
SW NE
NW
S
SE E
NW
southwest facade
on of the cube
tness to
e heating loss
radiation
2
Mass-Shape Strategies
Adaptation of
a cubic volume
Compacteness to
minimize heat loss
Glass box to maximize the
gain of solar radiation
Solar Radiation Strategies
Increase of surface
of southwest facade
Ventilation Strategies
Building orientation
to benefit from wind
Tilted surface to create
chimney effect
and closed volume in winter

47
Weather charts and maps of Moscow

49
The Band
Specialty Leader Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani | Professor Bernardo Ynzenga
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Maria Alejandra Pelaéz, Natália Sato
Location Madrid, Spain | Development 2 months
Specialty | Urban Design and Housign Theory
Intervention found when visiting the site
A New Neighbourhood in Madrid

50
The Band | A New Neighbourhood in Madrid
In this module, we developed the project of a new
neighbourhood in Madrid, Spain. The plot of around 20ha
was next to Casa de Campo, the biggest park in the city.
Although it could be accessed by train, it was quite isolated
from the city centre. Having that in mind, we tried to design
a neighbourhood that would have its own identity but at the
same time would be part of the city of Madrid.
In order to achieve that, the project was thought as an
addition of several interacting layers: the band, the grid, the
borders, the streets, the patios and, of course, the buildings
themselves.
The band was one of our design starting points and was born
form the challenge of connecting the site to its surroundings
in spite of all the infrastructure that tended to isolate it.
From our point of view, it was important to create a physical
connection not only with the immediate surroundings but
also with the green areas found when analysing the area in a
regional scale.
Moreover, the band allowed us to create a continuous
topographical path that connected all the public equipment,
commerce and office buildings planned for the neighbourhood
through a green park.
This organic band, shaped according to natural topography,
was juxtaposed to a grid that made reference to the kind of
tissue found in the city centre of Madrid and that organized
the streets and buildings.
The buildings, organized around patios with different scales
and a domestic atmosphere, had different heights in order to
emphasize the valley-wise topography of the site.
On the next page, collage showing
the atmosphere of the patios

52
1. Band
Layers
On the left side, green areas on regional, urban and local scale.
On the right side, landscape and vegetal species found around
Madrid, different views of Casa de Campo and views close to the
site, including an intervention asking for green areas.

53
Public equipment
connected by the band
Tertiary sector buildings
connected by the band
The band is an element that
should connect the new
neighbourhood to important
points of the surroundings,
namely Casa de Campo, the
existing neighbou rhoods
and the area to the South
that will probably be
occupied in the future.
The band is thought as
a continuous path that
sometimes touches the
ground and sometimes
is elevated, making room
for public equipements,
commerce or covered spaces.
cultural
center
sports center
and bridge
kindergarten
train station
Layers

54
120m x 120m
2. Grid
3. Borders
The proposed grid dialogues with
the Ensanche de Madrid, a plan
developed for the city of Madrid
during the 19th
century.
The site is surrounded by important
urban infrastructers: a highway, a
train line and an important avenue.
In order to atenuate the impact of
these elements, the boarders of the
project are treated with green areas.
Layers

55
4. Streets
On this page, plan and section
of one of the types of street
of the new neighbourhood.
Some of its features resemble
to streets found in Madrid
Layers

56
5. Patios
The housing buildings are arranged around patios. These patios
are connected and create a pedestrian pathway with a domestic
atmosphere – a garden with flowers, small trees and lawns where
people can hang out and children can play.
Layers

57
Block
On this page, plan and
section of a typical block
of the neighborhood
Final Proposal

58
General Plan
Final Proposal

59
General plan and section
of the final proposal

60
On this page, sections
showing the building’s
scale and the band as
a continuous plan
Final Proposal

61
Final Proposal
Collage showing the
atmosphere of the patios

63
Belonging
Professor Anna Heringer
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Blanca Guillén, Marta Juliana Abril
Location Makeni, Sierra Leone | Development 5 days
Workshop
Working with clay
Housing in Makeni

64
Belonging | Housing in Makeni
The method used to develop this project was clay modelling.
We started by shaping neighbourhoods or villages out of
mud that were not thought for any particular place. It was
about finding interesting spaces in between what was built:
the clay we took away from the mass became the open space
and we tried to find qualities in its particular size or shape, in
its relation with the whole.
At the same time, we had to remember a special space of our
childhood and not only draw it, but also try to understand
why it was special and which of its features could be
transposed to other situations.
It was only after a few days that we finally had to sculpt
a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Makeni, one of Sierra
Leone’s biggest cities. The plot had a rectangular shape, was
accessed by a main street, surrounded by trees and had a
small school on its far end.
We began by defining a central street around which we set
two rows of two-store housing buildings. They were tilted
and shaped in order to create diverse public spaces and allow
people to gather in different scales: within their family, with
their immediate neighbours or with the whole community in
the square next to the school. In this same square we placed
a vertical element, a tower that could allow people to climb
and look around.
On the right side, pictures of the working process

65
Above, drawing of a special space of my childhood.
The understanding of these memories guided the
development of the project for Makeni.

67
On the opposite page, maps and pictures
of Makeni, Sierra Leone. Above, top view
of the final project

68
On this and on the next page, pictures of the final
model and hand-drawn plan studies in which we tried
to understand the relations between the different units.
Although the new settlement was organized along
a single main street, we tried to tilt buildings and to
compress or distend the in-between space in order
to create different scales of social interaction and to
enhance the sense of community.

71
Inside-out
Professors Anne Lacaton | Assistant Diego García-Setién
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Arman Amin, Daniel Alcalá
Location Dunkirk, France | Development 7 days
Photograph by Andre de Freitas, series Double Exposures
Workshop
Intervention in an Industrial Area of Dunkirk

72
Inside-Out | Intervention in an Industrial Area of Dunkirk
The project started with a visit to Dunkirk, a former harbour
city in the north of France where industrial facilities have been
suffering a dismantlement process since the 1980s. We began
the project working inside the FRAC – or Contemporary Art
Center – designed by Lacaton and Vassal and a living example
of how stimulating can reused industrial structures be. Later on,
we continued the project in Madrid, having always in mind the
sea smell, the wind and the industrial atmosphere of Dunkirk.
We decided to develop a project for the area right next to the
museum and tried to come up with a strategy of densification
based on fill-in operations and on the reuse of the existing
industrial sheds.
The way of approaching the problem was very particular: we
worked with collages, with the careful search for images that
expressed particular atmospheres and by their posterior edition
and superposition. We began by fragments and started to add
them up in a way in that bit by bit they could acquire a clear
meaning and architectural intention.
The strategy outlined was based on the idea that units should
look both at the natural landscape and at the existing buildings
and that they should be as open as possible. That would
allow several ways of living and therefore make possible to
welcome people with different cultural backgrounds, something
especially important in Dunkirk, since it has been receiving
many refugees.
At the same time, the urban and geographical situation in
which we were working was always in our mind and we
intended to connect the sea, the first and the second canal in
a delicate but clear way. In that sense, it was import to get to a
solution in which it would be possible to create passages in the
ground floor and viewpoints in strategic points of the buildings.
As a result, we designed a mat building with a regular structure
that adapted itself to the existing and came close enough to
create a fertile dialog. At the same time, the new structure
allowed the densification of the area and invited many people
to discover and occupy that special part of Dunkirk.
On the next page, collages developed
during the d esign process; they were
understood as our main design tool

74
OUTSIDE
LANDSCAPE
GREEN
HOUSE
OPEN
SPACE
EXISTING RE-USED
BUILDINGS
OUTSIDE
LANDSCAPE
GREEN
HOUSE
OPEN
SPACE
COMMON
VARANDA
EXISTING RE-USED
BUILDINGS
Units should provide a
variety of situations and
encourage interaction
between people, with
the natural landscape
and with the extisting
industrial buildings
Units with central access | Concept
Units with gallery access | Concept
Unit Concept

79
On the previous page, general
perspectives showing existing
industrial buildings in pink.
On this page, implantation,
intervention area and satelite
image of Dunkirk

81
Scale Disney:Dioclesian
Professors Hrvoje Njiric | Assistant Nieves Mestre
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Marta Juliana Abril
Location Split, Croatia | Development 5 days
One of the first sketches of the project
Workshop
Housing in a Historical Site

82
Scale Disney:Dioclesian | Housing in a Historical Site
This project was driven by two strong stimuli: the Diocletian’s
Palace in Split, Croatia, an ancient Roman palace that has been
receiving different historical layers over the last 17 centuries,
and the cultural and technical background related to Disney. In
that sense, we had to look at the Disney world with a sensible
and critical eye in order to identify concepts that could be used
as guides for a housing project in this historical site.
In our case, four Disney concepts were re-signified and used as
driving forces of our project. The first one, DISPROPORTION, is a
central theme of Alice in Wonderland and made us try to create
unusual spaces in which people felt shorter or taller, wider or
thinner. That idea brought us to a text by Federico Soriano in
which he talks about measuring space with parameters other
than meters or feet. That led us to think about drawing our
intervention according to the existing windows, holes and
accidents found in the walls.
The second concept that helped us in the project was DUALITY,
the contraposition between the wicked witch and the sweet
princess. In our case, that made us analyse the two walls found
in the site and to identify and emphasize their specificities,
reacting differently to each of them.
The third concept came from the MULTIPLANE CAMERA,
a technique invented by Disney to give more realism to
animations. This invention, when transposed to our site, guided
us to look at that place as an addition of layers that started
from the outside landscape, passed through the wall, through
our intervention and finally reached the central square.
The forth concept was the GAP of time that is so important in
Cinderella’s story and that in our case was transformed into a
spatial gap, into the opportunity of playing with the distance
between buildings to frame the existing wall.
Disney’s version of Alice:
the character changes
size many times and
experiences a feeling of
DISPROPORTION

83
Top the ideia of DISPROPORTION can be found
in big transatlantics passing through the venitian
channels, in the work of the sculptor Ron Mueck
or in the Capitolino Museum in Roma
Bottom sketch showing the possibility of giving
the sense of DISPROPORTION by distorting
traditional spacial proportions

84
“L. tenía una peculiar curiosidad. Se había hecho fabricar
unos escalímetros distintos. Su aspecto no se distinguía
de los corrientes. Pero su calibración anómala producía
disparidades.
No era una regla entre metros y milímetros, entre
pulgadas y pies. Era un escalímetro que relacionaba
milímetros y luz eléctrica, centímetros con montañas,
metros con autobuses…
Los proyectos resultaban distintos. No era lo mismo
diseñar una vivienda cuando el dormitorio debe tener
12 m2
a cuando tiene un coche cuadrado. No resulta la
misma torre de oficinas cuando los despachos miden dos
meandros. O cuando un teatro ocupa 1.200 fluorescentes
o un polideportivo alcanza un Boeing 747.
A veces, según la escala, era un poco más grande de lo
normal. Otras, ligeramente más pequeño.
Nadie conocía esta herramienta. Los que trabajaban con
él la usaban sin saberlo.
Cuando los espacios se construían no había nada
espectacular; la gente se sentía un poco más ancha, un
poco más estrecha, un poco más alta, un poco más baja.
Tampoco era capaz de decir por qué.
Era más excitante la experiencia de L. Cuando medía una
puerta le parecía una plaza. Cuando dibujaba un patio le
parecía una ventana. Cuando proyectaba un hotel le salía
un pez”.
Extracted from 10 Hipermínimos, by Federico Soriano
“L. had a peculiar curiosity. He had made for himself
different scales. They looked like the normal ones. But
its anomalous calibration produced disparities.
It was not a scalimeter using meters and millimetres,
inches and feet. It was a scalimeter that related
millimeters to electric light, centimeters to mountains,
meters to buses...
The projects came out different. It was not the same to
design a house when the bedroom should have 12 m2
to
when it should have a square car. It iwas not the same
office tower when the offices measured two meanders.
Or when a theater occupied 1,200 fluorescent lamps or
a sport center reached a Boeing 747.
Sometimes, according to the scale, spaces were a little
bigger than normal. Other times, slightly smaller.
Nobody knew this tool. Those who worked with him
used it without knowing it.
When the spaces were built there was nothing
spectacular; people felt a little wider, a bit narrower, a
little higher, a little lower. He was not able to say why.
L.’s experience was more exciting when he measured a
door and it seemed a square. When he drew a patio and
it looked like a window. When he designed a hotel and
a fish came out.
Free Translation

85
A scale measured in fishes
or windows; the Tempietto
of Bramante measured in
airplanes

86
Top Postcard of Split, Croatia, and plan of the Dioclesian
Palace showing the area of intervention
Bottom the idea of DUALITY found in many Disney films
and the attempt to understand the two walls of the
project as special entities with specific charcteristics

87
Top The MULTIPLANE CAMERA, a Disney invention
that gave more realism to aniumations by separating
the drawings in layers
Bottom The site understood as an addition of layers

88
The GAP in time of Cinderela’s story and the
physical gap seen in a photo by Serge Najjar, in
a picture extracted from Herman Hertzberger’s
Lessons for Students in Architecture or in Hélio
Oiticica’s painting Metaesquema

90
Eastern Wall
Our idea was to provide 3
different situations: one close to
the floor with a garden, one in-
between level that would work as
a greenhouse and a rooftop that
would look over the wall
Initial sketch and plan of the
rooftop unit, that allows looking
both at the internal plaza and at
the external trees and market
Section showing the building and
the external circulation, that allows
a promenade next to the wall and
fosters the encounter of neighbours

91
Elevation of the eastern wall showing
the GAPS created in between buildings

92
Southern Wall
The southern wall, that already has openings
towards the sea, suggested us to attach the
new light structure to the wall. The height
of the units, measured in windows, would
give different sensations and play with the
idea of DISPROPORTION

94
Typical section of the southern
wall buildings showing the idea
of DISPROPORTION

95
Elevation looking from the sea
towards the southern wall

97
Promenade
Professor Dietmar Eberle | Assistant Gustavo Rojas
Team Taís de Moraes Alves
Location Madrid, Spain | Development 5 days
Dissolvidos num futuro transcendente [Dia 298], photo by Vitor Coelho Nisida
Ramps in the Faculty of Architecture by Vilanova Artigas
Workshop
Common Circulation Between Blocks

98
Promenade | Common Circulation Between Blocks
During this workshop, we developed studies for three
different sites in Madrid that had very particular
features: the outskirts of the city, the city centre and
Salamanca, a 19th
century high-end neighbourhood.
Following the method proposed in the workshop, we
explored different aspects of a housing building designed
for each of the three sites: the building’s form, that
should be related to the urban tissue around it; the
structure and main circulation, which were understood
as fix elements that should last for many decades, while
other elements such as partitions would be flexible;
and the building’s envelope, which was thought as an
interface with the outside.
Some of the studies of urban form and facade are
presented here briefly, while the circulation thought for
the housing building in Salamanca is shown in more
detail.
The circulation was developed having in mind the
implantation developed by other colleagues and was
guided by the social life it could enable more than by
its efficiency. Having said that, the housing units were
thought as duplexes, which made possible the creation
of three circulation levels for six building stores.
The circulation was composed by bridges that occupied
the patio and connected the two parts of the building.
They became wider and narrower and made possible
different communal uses.
On this page, study developed
for the urban form of a bulding
in the city centre od Madrid.
On the next page, facade study
for a building in the outskirts
of the city

100
Pictures of a model of
the circulation paths.

101
Above, model of the implantation; section of the
building, which has duplex units in order to make
the common circulation more efficient; and
collage over pictures of the circulation model

102
Above, plans of the circulation
levels and model showing their
superposition

103
Collage over pictures of the circulation model

105
Professors Patrick Gmür | Assistant Rosario Segado
Team Taís de Moraes Alves, Marcela Valerio
Location Zürich, Switzerland | Development 5 days
Extracted from the book The Art Of Japanese Joinery, by Kiyosi Seike
Workshop
Joinery
High-Rise in Zürich

106
Joynery | High-Rise in Zürich
This high-rise building thought for an area relatively
far away from the city centre of Zürich, Switzerland,
was designed in a way to offer interesting spaces in
which height and volume varied to offer better views
to the outside, to allow more light to come in or
simply to provide a more stimulating place to live.
Having that in mind, we developed 5 types of
volumes that made possible the configuration of
numerous typologies, each one with specific features.
All these volumes fitted together and resulted in a
prismatic form that interacted with the surrounding
buildings and played with the idea of complex units
within a simple frame.
To achieve this configuration, our main challenge
was to design a central core that could give access
to several levels through a single staircase and set of
elevators. At the same time, the typological studies
intended to explore the possibilities offered by
each space and to create apartments with dynamic
circulation and long views.
On this page, pictures of the urban model
and implantation. On the next page, section
showing different types of units

108
Section D
Section A
Section E
Section B
0
0
0
0
10m
10m
10m
10m

109
Ground Floor Level 1
02 01
03
04
05
06
Level 2 Intermediate Level
Level 3
Levels not represented
on the current plan
Communal areas and circulation
(variable height)
Simple height
2,87m
L shape
2,87m
Combined height with staircase
2,87m/4,42m
Combined height without staircase
2,87m/4,42m
Double height
4,42m
0 0
0 0
0
10m 10m
10m 10m
10m
Legend

110
0 1 5 10m

111
Typology 01
Typology 03 Typology 05

112
0 1 5 10m

113
Typology 04
Typology 02
Typology 06

114
Collage showing different
types of units; on the next
page, facade collage

117
Direction
Prof. José María de Lapuerta (UPM)
and Prof. Andrea Deplazes (ETH)
MCH Manager
Rosario Segado
MCH Executive Assistant
Maria José Manga
Duration
23.01.2017-11.09.2017
Location
Madrid, Spain
Study Trips
Zürich and Dunkirk
MCH2017 Participants
Arman Amin
Blanca Guillén
Daniel Alcalá
Georges El Hachem
Gonzalo Lozano Arce
Marcela Valério
Maria Alejandra Pelaéz
Maria Amado Mannise
Maria Eizayaga
Marta Juliana Abril
Mauricio Mendez Wiesner
Natália Ayumi Sato
Oscar Gilbert
Oscar Rodriguez Perales
Riham Zawil
Taís de Moraes Alves
MASTER IN ADVANCED STUDIES
IN COLLECTIVE HOUSING | MCH
Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM) +
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)

This portfolio was composed in Rotis
and printed in Chamex Colours 75g

Taís de Moraes Alves, MCH2017, Brazil

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