Baldaya – Public Space and Collective Housing

Quinta da Baldaya, Benfica, Lisbon

4th Prize, Public Competition

The project transforms a fragmented area of Benfica into a new residential neighbourhood comprising 266 apartments, reconnecting the surrounding urban fabric through a sequence of buildings and public spaces. The housing blocks respond to the different scales and alignments of the existing city, while a central square brings together the main pedestrian routes and forms the new centre of the neighbourhood.

To the west, a new urban park extends the gardens of Palácio Baldaya, recovering the landscape structure that once characterised this part of the Benfica. The square, park and surrounding courtyards form a continuous system of public spaces, combining housing, commerce, leisure and pedestrian movement.

Landscape and water management are conceived as part of the same urban strategy. Permeable surfaces, retention basins and new vegetation restore the ecological and hydraulic capacity of the site, transforming a former barrier within the city into a new connection between neighbourhood, landscape and public space.

Public square and collective housing at Baldaya, Lisbon
Street view along the new residential frontage at Baldaya, Lisbon
Residential buildings and landscaped public space at Baldaya, Lisbon
Axonometric view of the Baldaya masterplan with housing, public space and gardens
Store opening onto the public garden at Baldaya, Lisbon
Landscaped garden between the residential buildings at Baldaya, Lisbon
Apartment floor plan types for the Baldaya collective housing project
Apartment floor plan types for the Baldaya collective housing project