Betar

Affordable Housing

• Location: Serpa, Portugal
• Solution: Buildings
• Type: Housing
• Architecture: Alfredo Saldanha e Maria João Carvalhão Duarte
• Client: Câmara Municipal de Serpa
• Scope: Foundations and structures
• Area: 20000m2
• Project: 2001/2002
• Construction: 2005
• Photography: Rodrigo Cabral
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The development, located in Serpa, comprises a set of 22 buildings (4 type A, 5 type B, 4 type C, 8 type BC and 1 type BC'), intended for affordable housing. The buildings are arranged along the streets, defining blocks that form squares within them, intended for green spaces and car parking.
All the buildings have a ground floor, 2 upper floors and a pitched roof with an attic. The BC and BC' buildings have a rectangular floor plan. The A-type buildings have an L-shaped floor plan, with the corner rounded to make the corner. Type B buildings also have an L-shaped floor plan, but with larger dimensions. Type "C" buildings have a V-shaped floor plan to adapt to the contours of a roundabout.
The buildings consist of reinforced concrete framed structures made up of columns and beams, on which solid slabs rest. The roof structure is made up of prestressed reinforced concrete beams, spaced 1.20 metres apart, supported by the beams of the main and rear façades and the ridge, and by intermediate masonry walls. Each building has a single structural block.
Shallow foundations by footings were adopted.