Rés do Chão

ANALYSIS

Thisstage gathers information and knowledge about the intervention context and identifies its challenges and opportunities. This service can be developed with different outputs - sociodemographic characterization, mapping of local entities and local initiatives, mapping of commercial ground floors (occupied and vacant) and public spaces characterization. Through field work and observation, statistical data analysis, survey design, interviews, focus groups, community assemblies and other tools, fundamental data about the territory is systematized to inform the design of proposals in the next stages of the process, with assertive and context fit strategies.

REHABILITATION

Rés do Chão designs architecture projects and the corresponding construction monitoring process, dealing with the rehabilitation and qualification of ground floors and public spaces.

Public spaces rehabilitation promotes the qualification of spaces, the design of new urban equipment and fosters the use of these spaces by residents and passerby.
Ground floor spaces rehabilitation promotes the qualification and adaptation of these spaces to new uses. The designed interventions aim to maintain the identity and memories of the buildings and ensure that the space can be adapted to multiple uses in a flexible way.

The design and implementation of these interventions, particularly the ones that deal with public spaces, include participatory processes with the local communities.

ACTIVATION

Alongside therehabilitation projects, Rés do Chão designs and develops ground floor and public spaces activation initiatives.

The activation of ground floor spaces can take form as:
• Management of ground floor spaces through alternative rent models (co-working, pop-up stores);
• Promotion and advertizementof vacant ground floors and facilitation between potential tenants and owners;
• Event organization and promotion of ground floors and nearby businesses.

Public spaces activation can take form as:
• Organizing events that promote different uses of public spaces;
• Design and construction of ephemeral equipment that promotes public space as a location for meeting and socializing.

AWARENESS

Focusing on the qualification of ground floors and public spacesbeyond its rehabilitation and activation, Rés do Chão develops strategies of awareness about these themes.

Through publications, performances and artistic interventions, conferences, workshops and focus groups, spaces of shared discussion are created, to think about the problems that emerge from numerous vacant ground floors and unqualified public spaces.
Following this logic, education initiatives take form as, for example, gaming tools that promote participatory action and citizenship, and sensitizie youngsters and children to positive behaviors for the preservation and qualification of public spaces.

CONSULTING

With a multidisciplinary team, skilled in architecture and social sciences, Rés do Chão supports urban regeneration and rehabilitation projects , using a set of tools and methodologies created from the knowledge and experience acquired in the last years.

Consulting projects are customized to the needs of the client and to the context of intervention, with the possibility of inclusion of one or all the services and stages of Rés do Chão methodology:

• Analysis
• Rehabilitation / activation of ground floors
• Rehabilitation / activation of public spaces
• Awareness