Located in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal, some 90 kilometers from Lisbon, this building gives an original answer to the situation of the elderly in Western societies. This is an even greater challenge these days because of the gradual aging of the population. Halfway between hotel and health center, the typical residence for senior citizens usually has a rather withdrawn and peaceful character. In this case, however, the building has a striking appearance, with a geometry that opens up to the town, as if wishing to assert the presence of its residents and fight against the loneliness they often find themselves in.

With a zigzagging floor plan, the building takes up the whole plot, adapting to a topography that is dominated by a hill and articulating the complex, which contains several heterogenous pieces. The facades relinquish the freer layout of the floor plan and instead offer a strict checkerboard arrangement of solids and voids. Each one of the 38 units, located on the first and second floors, has its own outdoor space through which the interiors receive indirect light. The ground level contains a series of communal spaces to favor interaction among residents... [+]